A Crash Course In Alchemy
by goobster013
Summary: The author is thrust into Amestris, the world of the fullmetal alchemist; chaos ensues. AUTHORxED. a melange of the first and second anime series with some original material.
1. New Soul

Hello everyone! DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Hawkeye, Bradley, Barry the Chopper, Hughes, Mustang & co., etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

And without further ado, here is A Crash Course In Alchemy! ^^

* * *

**Ch. 1: New Soul**

I walked into Fuhrer Bradley's office. "Ah, welcome to Central, Marina! I hope your trip wasn't too bad."

"No, sir."

"Good, good. Marina, I'd like you to meet First Lieutenant Hawkeye. You will be staying at her house while you are in Central." The lieutenant was a blond woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. I bowed to the lieutenant. "It's an honor to meet you lieutenant. Thank you for letting me stay with you."

The Fuhrer turned to Hawkeye. "Lieutenant, would it be too much trouble to ask you to take Marina on a tour around headquarters?"

"Not at all sir."

"Excellent! Marina, I shall leave you in very competent hands."

"Sir!" I saluted my uncle. On the way out of the office, the lieutenant laid down some house rules as we walked down one of the many hallways in headquarters. "Rule number one: call me Riza if it's just the two of us in the area. However, if my colleagues are around, call me Lieutenant, or Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Yes ma'am!"

While walking around, we ran into Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, who proceeded to bombard me and Hawkeye with pictures of his 2 year old daughter Elysia. "Look at her: isn't she an angel?" Little hearts started to appear around his head. "I bet you want to meet her, right? Of course you do! Here's her new bathing suit, here she is on her tricyc–"

"Hughes, that's enough!" An angry tick-mark had found its way onto Hawkeye's temple, and Hughes, wisely valuing his life, decided to stop.

We continued our way down the long hall and I called back to Hughes, "Nice to meet you sir!"

At long last, we stopped in front of a door. Lieutenant Hawkeye opened said door, revealing five men sitting in chairs. All had bored looks on their faces until Hawkeye introduced me. "Gentlemen, meet Marina, the Fuhrer's niece. Marina, these are my colleagues Lieutenant Heymans Breda, Warrant Officer Vato Falman, Lieutenant Jean Havoc, Sergeant Kain Fuery, and my superior Colonel Roy Mustang."

Half an hour of interrogation later, we all heard approaching footsteps, and the door opened with a bang, thanks to a red-soled black boot. "MUSTANG!!! I'VE GOT A BONE TO PICK……..with……..you." The person to whom the boot belonged entered the room, followed by a rather tall suit of armor. His yell subsided when he noticed someone he didn't know, AKA me. The boy was somewhat short, with shoulder-length blond hair that was held back in a braid. He wore a red coat over simple black pants and shirt.

The suit of armor commented, "Wow, you're pretty!"

I blushed a bit. "Thanks."

"Al!" hissed the blond.

"Sorry, Brother."

"Permission to smack him Sir?" Hawkeye inquired.

Colonel Mustang smirked and replied, "Permission granted." All of a sudden, Hawkeye smacked the blond boy.

"OW! What the heck was THAT for?!"

"Is that any way to behave in front of the Fuhrer's niece?"

"Hahaha, sorry about my little brother." The blond apologized, scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it. Wait, he's your little brother? But you're so sho–" I was cut off due to a gloved hand over my mouth.

"That word––and any other word related to height, for that matter––is taboo around brother. He'll get really mad," explained the suit of armor, who was apparently named Al. I nodded vigorously to show my understanding, and my mouth was uncovered again.

Lieutenant Hawkeye then formally introduced me to Al and his brother. "Marina, meet the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric, and his brother Alphonse Elric. Ed, Al, this is Marina." I bowed to Edward.

"Congratulations, Fullmetal Alchemist, sir."

Al inquired, "How'd you know that Brother was the Fullmetal Alchemist and not me?"

Ed chipped in with, "Yeah, and what's with the congratulations?"

"Well, the silver chain in Edward's pocket kinda gave it away. I'm not that stupid, you know. Edward, I've heard that you earned your state alchemist title at the age of twelve to become the youngest state alchemist in the history of Amestris. I think that's reason enough to congratulate."

"You have a point," Ed acknowledged.

"Awwwww look, Fullmetal has a crush on Marina!" noted Havoc. Hawkeye acquired an evil glint in her eyes that was somehow missed by her co-workers. Meanwhile, an awkward silence reigned between me and Ed. I saw Lieutenant Hawkeye sneaking Mustang and co. out, and briefly wondered what my guardian was up to. Thinking further along that train of thought, I decided that I didn't even WANT to know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 week later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Sergeant Fuery, have you seen Marina around anywhere?"

"I think she went to the cafeteria to get food. You just missed her, sorry Ed."

"Thanks." Sighing, Ed trotted off to the HQ cafeteria, Al trailing behind. When they arrived at their destination, I was nowhere to be found. Puzzled, Ed went outside where a pair of cracked, purple glasses caught his eye. _Those are Marina's! What the hell are they doing on the ground and why are they cracked?_ He picked them up, and his eyes wandered over to some suspicious-looking tire tracks that continued down the road. Concerned, Ed began to follow them. After following the tracks, Ed wound up at the back door of a butcher's freeze locker.

Kicking the door open, he saw rows upon rows of hanging pig carcasses. "Folks, we have a winner! Congratulations to the Fullmetal Alchemist! As your prize, I shall allow you to see who my next victim shall be." The voice cackled maniacally. A row of pig carcasses moved to reveal me.

My hands were tied above my head to a chain that was connected to a row of pig carcasses, and I had a rag in my mouth that prevented me from crying out for help. "MARINA-CHAN!!!!" I looked up and saw Ed by a door. A man with a butcher's knife came out from behind one of the rows of hanging meat. "Excuse me, where are my manners? Welcome to my shop Fullmetal. I am Barry the butcher, but people call me Barry the Chopper." Barry then noticed my appearance. "What? How could your cuts heal so fast?! I suppose I'll have to break a couple of bones then." With a crazed look in his eyes, Barry the Chopper came at me fast, hitting me in the chest with the blunt end of the knife. There was an audible crack as several of my ribs broke. I tried to cough up blood, but the rag in my mouth prevented me from clearing my throat completely. I heard Ed call my name for a second time before my world went black.


	2. She Moves In Her Own Way

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Hawkeye, Bradley, Barry the Chopper, Hughes, Mustang & co., etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

_**bold italics: - jutsu**_

* * *

**Ch. 2: She Moves in Her Own Way**

I slowly opened my eyes to inspect my surroundings. Said surroundings were like a sewer: dark and damp. The only difference was that there was a giant cage in front of me with a piece of paper that had the word 'Seal' stamped on it. "Shu-Shukaku's seal? What the––" I muttered to myself.

"Long time no see. What did you do this time, Marina?" sighed the one-tailed tanuki demon. A pair of beige-colored eyes with black diamond-shaped pupils appeared behind the cage as Shukaku awoke.

"Haha, very funny. It's not even my fault this time, OK? And the situation could be worse."

"You've got 4 broken ribs! What do you mean 'The situation could be worse'?!?!" Shukaku fussed over me like a mother hen over her chick. I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot I can do to heal your ribs."

"Thank you for trying."

"I'm not going to keep you long; your knight in shining armor *coughboyfriendcough* is coming to your rescue."

I blushed furiously. "Tanuki no baka, he's not my boyfriend! I'm not even sure if he likes me that way, anyways."

"He did come to rescue you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but…………"

"Lord, Marina, you have next to no self confidence. If you don't make any progress in the next month, I'm making some for you. Now get outta here!" I blinked, and found myself bound in chains again.

Back in Barry's Butcher Shop, Ed had charged at Barry, promising mutilation or worse. Ed transmuted his auto-mail arm into a blade and attempted to behead the butcher, who ducked and swung his cleaver at the alchemist. Ed avoided the knife, and lured Barry away from me. As soon as they got far enough away, Ed trapped the butcher in a cage transmuted out of the concrete floor, then ran to me and liberated me from my chains. Once I fell, he caught me and took the rag out of my mouth.

"You OK?"

"I-I think so." Green chakra covered my hands as I tried to heal my broken ribs. However, I didn't get very far because an angry butcher––who completely destroyed the transmutated cage––came at us with cleaver raised.

_Jashin, will I get ANY breaks?!?!_ I sighed internally and made the healing chakra disappear. _Fine. You asked for it Barry._ My hands formed six seals in a flash. _**KATON: GOKAKYUU NO JUTSU!**_ A huge fireball erupted from my mouth and burnt everything in its path to a crisp, including the butcher. Ed's jaw dropped. _What the hell?! A fireball that came out of thin air? That definitely doesn't follow the Law of Equivalent Exchange. How did she do it? _"Holy crap Marina, what was that?"

"Ahaha, I'll tell you later?" I looked towards the door to see that Alphonse Elric had come to our rescue, followed by Colonel Mustang and co.

"BROTHER! MARINA-CHAN! Are you guys OK?"

"Al! Yeah, we're fine."

"Why does it smell like barbeque pork in here?"

One of Ed's eyebrows twitched. "And hello to you too, Mustang."

"The Fuhrer's gonna kill you, Hawkeye," commented Hughes. "Pictures of my daughter will help take your mind off your doom. Wanna see some?"

"……………"

"Just kidding, just kidding!"

*Thud* I suddenly collapsed due to exhaustion and shock. Concerned, Ed knelt beside me. I lost my composure and started to cry. Ed, looking bewildered, mouthed to Al _Help me! What do I do?_ Al whispered back, "Comfort her, you idiot!" Ed tentatively held me in his arms, rubbing my back and continuously murmuring, "You're OK. It's all right now." I eventually stopped crying and I blacked out, again.

When I awoke, I found myself in a white bed, staring at an equally white ceiling. I gradually turned my head to the left, and saw Ed sitting next to my bed.

"Good morning sunshine!"

"Ugh, how long have I been out for?"

"For at least a week, I think"

"WHAT?!?!?!" I sat up abruptly, then winced as pain shot through my ribs.

"Whoa there, take it easy. You've actually been out for a day."

"…………" I glared at Ed.

I started to shiver, despite the warm temperature of the hospital room.

"Marina, are you cold? You're shivering."

I nodded. "A-a little."

"Here." Ed moved from the chair to my bed and put his red coat over my shoulders. I felt a bit warmer, but my shivering continued. All of a sudden, Ed pulled me closer to him, and I blushed. Ed apologized for something different. "Sorry about my right arm. It's auto-mail, so it won't keep you warm, but––." He stopped as I snuggled into his chest. "Thank you Ed," I whispered. His surprised expression changed to a softer one when my shivering stopped altogether and my breathing slowed. Ed deduced––correctly––that I had fallen asleep, gently put me under the covers of my hospital bed, and returned to his chair.

I woke up a second time to see that Ed was still in the chair beside my bed.

"Oh good, you're awake! I heard that you don't like hospital food, so I, um, went to the cafeteria at HQ and got you some apples and milk. I didn't know what kind of food you like, so I went with fruit to be safe." The alchemist shuddered at the mention of the odious white liquid.

"You didn't have to! How much was it? I'll pay you back."

"No, no, it's OK. Don't worry about it."

It took me several tries and Ed's help to sit up. There was a blue flash as Ed transmuted his auto-mail arm into a blade. Ed started to peel and cut one of the apples. He held out a piece in front of me.

"Not to be rude or anything, but I can feed myself."

"I disagree. Your ribs are healing so you're still weak. I'll. Feed. You."

I relented. "All right, if you insist." I leaned forward and with my mouth, took the piece of apple from his hand.

An apple and a half later, we both heard the door open. Breda stuck his head in the room, right as I was about to take another slice of apple from Ed. The pudgy lieutenant remarked, "Sorry to interrupt. I'll let you guys have your privacy and, uh, come back later." He left, closing the door behind him. Ed then announced, "Once you get out of here, I'll treat you to some REAL food, OK?"

I nodded, smiling. "I'd like that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2 days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After getting released from the hospital, Hawkeye picked me up, and we drove to her house. Upon our arrival, Black Hayate, Hawkeye's black and white pooch, tackled me. "Haha, hey boy! I guess you're happy to see me, huh?"

Hawkeye stated, "Everybody's happy to see that you're better." Sneakily changing the subject, she mentioned, "So I heard that Ed kept you company while you were in the hospital…………"

"Heard from who? Breda?"

"Uh-huh."

I blushed slightly and my gaze traveled to a rather interesting piece of concrete by my feet. "Yeah? What of it?"

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "Oh nothing, nothing."

"Riiiight."

By that time, we had made it into the house and were sitting down at the table. Suddenly the phone rang. We both got up, but Hawkeye made me stay put, seeing as I just got out of the hospital. The only thing I could do was sigh and wait while my guardian answered the phone.


	3. All's Fair In Love And War

**Ch 3: All's Fair in Love and War**

"Uh-huh……..uh-huh…….I'll tell her. Bye." The click of the phone meeting the receiver resounded through the house. "Hey, Marina?"

"Hey, Riza?" I mimicked.

"Don't mock me when I'm giving you valuable information!" Riza teased. "That was Ed. He's coming to pick you up around 6, and he says to wear semi-fancy clothes."

"OK! What time is it now?" I looked quickly at my watch. "Oh my god, it's already 5 o'clock!" I raced up to my room to root around in my closet.

After 40 minutes of sifting through EVERY inch of my room, I found nothing that really matched the description of 'semi-fancy'. "Um, Houston, we have a problem!"

My guardian poked her head into the messy room. "Who's Houston, and what's the problem?"

"No-one, and I don't have anything semi-fancy to wear."

"Well, let's see. I'm sure we could put something together.................."

*Ding dong* The doorbell rang at exactly 6 o'clock. Riza opened the door to find Ed wearing his usual red coat over black shirt and pants. "Marina, Ed's here!" She informed Ed, "She's up in her room; 2nd door to the left."

"Thanks." The alchemist climbed the stairs and sought out my room.

"Hey there!" I spun around in my chair, and ungracefully fell on my rear due to surprise.

"ACK! Eheheh, hi Edward." I picked myself up and dusted myself off. Ed leaned against the doorframe, wouldn't quite look me in the eye, and blushed a bit. "Y-you look really nice." He stated.

I blushed and tucked a few ornery strands of hair behind my right ear. "Thanks. You look……….nice as well?"

We walked out the front door to find a cab patiently waiting for us. _The driver seems a bit shady with the hat over his eyes._ I thought. "Have fun you two!"

I rolled my eyes. "Bye Riza!"

"Bye Lieutenant Hawkeye!"

Once we got into the cab, Ed informed the driver of our destination: Les Belles Heures. The cab driver suddenly turned around, his hat falling off in the process. "You're taking her THERE?!?!" I cautiously glanced at Ed and sweat-dropped; He had at least three tick marks adorning his temples. "_Mustang!!!_ What the hell are you doing, butting into our date?!" I blushed at the last two words of Ed's indignant query.

"Fullmetal, I'm here to make sure you guys don't do anything inappropriate, OK?" The flame alchemist smiled in a rather reassuring way, or at least, he thought it was. To us in the back seat, however, it was just creepy.

"No, NOT OK!!!" Needless to say, the rest of the car ride was spent in strained silence.

We eventually arrived at Les Belles Heures, and approached the maître d'.

"A table for tw––"

"Three please." The Colonel interjected. Tick marks started to appear around Ed's head.

"I'm sorry Messieurs, this restaurant for couples only. The couple in this group, I assume, is the young lady and the short blond?"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A PLANKTON-SIZED FLEA SO SMALL YOU CAN ONLY SEE THROUGH A MICROSCOPE?!?!?!?!?!?!"

My eyes widened in shock as the poor maître d' was bowled over by the sudden increase in noise. _That's what happens when Ed's height is questioned? No wonder Al warned me about it! Note to self: Do not, under ANY circumstance, call Ed short._

Ed and I followed the maître d' to a small table, leaving the colonel behind in the waiting area. The maître d proceeded to give us our menus, then left us alone. Opening my menu, my eyes widened for the second time that night. This time, the cause happened to be the prices. "Uh, Ed?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you sure about this restaurant?"

"What's wrong with it? Do you not like it? We can go to another restaurant if you wa–"

"N-no, it's fine! It's just…the prices are a bit on the high side……" I trailed off, as my brain refused to form coherent thoughts, informing me that it was on strike from being used more than was really necessary. Conversation pretty much came to a halt after that; choosing meals is an arduous task that requires concentration.

The flame alchemist was annoyed. He was annoyed because he got left in the dust. He was annoyed because he was left in the dust, and thus couldn't supervise (AKA embarrass) Fullmetal on his date. Then his brain supplied him with an idea. He would call his subordinate Lieutenant Hawkeye, be a "couple", and supervise the shorty that way. _Brilliant, Mustang, ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!_ Inner Roy rubbed his hands together and let loose an evil cackle. Outer Roy started to rub his hands together as well, until Inner Roy noticed people staring, and whacked Outer Roy. Outer Roy sighed, flipped his phone open, and called his first lieutenant. _Operation 'Embarrass The Shrimp' had begun._

"Hello? Lieutenant Hawkeye? It's Colonel Mustang."

"Sir?" Hawkeye was understandably quite surprised.

"I was wondering if you could meet me at Les Belles Heures as soon as possible."

"…………….Right now sir?"

"If you can, that would be great."

"I'll be right there, sir." Hawkeye had arrived in less than ten minutes, and they had been able to get in the restaurant without any fuss.

Back in Les Belles Heures, we had ordered our food, and were eating. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed two suspicious figures watching us from a table close by.

I leaned over the table and whispered, "Hey Ed, don't you think that the people sitting two tables away look familiar?"

Ed briefly glanced at the aforementioned table and whispered back, "Yeah, you're right! Is that Mustang? How'd he get in anyways? Oh wait, I see Hawkeye, never mind." _Damn Mustang!_ He flagged down a random waiter. "Excuse me, my girlfriend doesn't like the lighting over here. Can we move to a different table?"

"Yes, of course Monsieur."

The waiter took us to another section of the restaurant, but Mustang and Hawkeye followed us a bit later. The pattern of moving, having the colonel and lieutenant come after us, Ed getting irate, and moving yet again continued, until I asked the exhausted waiter for a private booth. _When we leave, I'm going to make sure we leave him a sizeable tip._ The waiter led us to a booth. As his left hand reached for the door handle, his left sleeve rose up his arm a little, and a bit of red made its existence known for a split second. But that split second was long enough for me to ascertain what it was, and the fact that said waiter subconsciously tugged the same sleeve down afterwards didn't hurt either.


	4. Cast Your Fate To The Wind

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Hawkeye, Bradley, Envy, Hughes, Mustang © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 4: Cast Your Fate to the Wind**

_The Mark of the Ourobouros? No, I'm 110 percent sure that's what it was. But what's a homunculus doing as a waiter he––_

"Marina-chan? Earth to Marina-chan?" Ed suddenly jolted me out of my musings.

"Hmmmm? Oh, sorry Ed." I shook my head to get rid of my thoughts and followed the blond into the booth.

We sat down and Ed was almost swallowed up by the couch-like chair. After a few seconds of futile struggling, a roar of "DAMN YOU CHAIR!!!!!" could be heard throughout Les Belles Heures, and a flash of blue and white light filled the room. Where there was once a red velvety couch there was now………….a big plush strawberry. In the main restaurant, Hawkeye and Mustang looked at each other with alarm and sweat-dropped. Back in the booth, I merely raised an eyebrow, and conversation continued, sort of.

"So………….." There was a semi-awkward pause.

"I have something to do. I'll be right back." I exited the room in an attempt to find Hawkeye and her superior officer. When I did find them, they were immersed in a deep, profound conversation, much to my surprise. To get their attention, I poked Roy once; nothing. I poked him twice; still nothing. I continued to poke the colonel until he turned around. "Cut it out would you?! What do you want?" the flame alchemist irritably demanded.

I smiled sweetly. "If it's not too much to ask, could you please leave the restaurant?"

Mustang was about to refuse the idea, but Hawkeye quickly intervened. "Let's go Sir."

With that, they got up and left––Hawkeye throwing a subtle nod my way––, and I meandered back to the room.

I sighed and gently closed the door. "I'm back! Sorry I left without telling yo––" Without warning, I found myself pinned between the door and Ed's body. His right hand was entwined with my left, the back of my hand against the door next my head. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I briefly wondered if Ed could hear it too. "E-edwa––" Gold eyes made contact with hazel for a split second, then he leaned forward and his lips met mine. My eyes widened from the initial shock, then closed slowly as I felt a rush of those wonderful endorphins.

After a moment of being on cloud 13--4 times better than cloud 9--, he pulled back, gave me some space, looked down, and blushed. "MarinaIloveyou!"

"Wha––?" I blinked slowly as my brain threatened to go on strike, again.

Ed took a deep breath and started over with more conviction in his voice. "Marina, I love you. Will you be my girlfriend?"

I blushed a shade of red rivaling that of the aforementioned transmuted strawberry, tentatively walked up to him, and returned the kiss in full, plus a bit of interest. "Yes."

_Score one for Marina-sama!_ The tanuki demon let loose a cheer and stuck an enormous paw outside of his cage for a high-five.

Inner me raised an eyebrow in disbelief. _Shukaku, what are you doing?!_

_What? If you're not gonna celebrate this, then I'm more than happy to celebrate it for you._

Inner me just rolled her eyes. _We'll talk about this later._

Ed and I spent the next three hours snuggling on the couch––Ed transmuted the strawberry back––and enjoying each other's company. By chance, I happened to catch a glimpse of my watch. "Holy Jashin, it's 10 o'clock! We should probably go."

"Wait, really?" I showed him the face of my watch. "Uh, yeah, we probably should." Hand in hand, we walked out of Les Belles Heures. I stopped as I realized that I forgot my coat, and I dashed back inside to track down my wayward jacket.

I slowed down as I reached the booth that we were previously in. A flash of light attracted my eye, and being the curious person that I was, I went to go check it out. I flattened myself against the wall as Hawkeye exited the booth, praying that she didn't see me. _I thought Hawkeye and Mustang lef––no, I KNOW Hawkeye and Mustang left. She walks kind of like our waiter did. What the hell is going on?!?!_ Retrieving my unruly coat, I rushed to get back to Ed. 'Hawkeye' joined us a minute later. I knew that something wasn't right about my guardian, but I kept this nugget of suspicion to myself. Ed flagged down a taxi that Mustang wasn't driving––Ed triple checked––and we, along with the lieutenant, arrived at Hawkeye's house in no time.

We got out of the taxi, and Black Hayate came out to greet us. He wagged his tail playfully when he saw me and Ed, but when he saw Hawkeye, he started to growl. "What's up with Black Hayate?" Ed mused. Black Hayate's behavior towards the fake lieutenant made all the pieces fall into place. I pointed to the imitation Hawkeye and proclaimed, "HOMUNCULUS!"

"……Marina, what are you talking about? That is clearly Lieutenant Hawkeye, and Lieutenant Hawkeye is clearly not a homunculus."

"You remember the waiter at Les Belles Heures? I saw the Mark of the Ourobouros on his left forearm. He somehow morphed into Hawkeye. I'm sure this illusion has the Ourobouros on her left forearm too. Oh, and when I left the booth, I had Mustang and Hawkeye leave. I saw them leave with my own eyes."

"My, what great perception your girlfriend has!" Hawkeye chuckled and changed into a teen with long, green hair. He wore an outfit that showed quite a bit of midriff; a halter-top, and what looked like a skirt (I wasn't really sure). _Oh my god, he looks like a palm tree!_ Inner me started to snicker. "Oh, by the way, I'm Envy." The Hawkeye impostor strode up to me, lifted my chin with his thumb, and started to make out with me. Ed exploded. "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS––and mouth––OFF MY GIRLFRIEND!!!!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, I pushed the homunculus away from me as Ed transmuted his right arm into a blade and lunged at Envy. He easily dodged, and Ed tried again. The alchemist kept trying to hit the homunculus, and the homunculus kept avoiding the alchemist's blade. This went on for quite a while, destroying much of Hawkeye's porch and front lawn. I heard the high-pitched squeal of car tires. "Ed! Marina! What's going on?" The real first lieutenant arrived on the scene, guns ablaze. "Ed, stop moving around! I want to shoot him, not you!"

"That's my cue to leave. Catch you all later!" Envy gave us a two-fingered salute, and disappeared over a wall.


	5. Send Me on My Way

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Hawkeye, Mustang & co. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 5: Send Me On My Way**

_Damn bastard! Who does he think he is?_ Ed fumed silently.

"What's going on?" My guardian repeated.

"Where did you and Mustang go after you left Les Belles Heures?" I asked, completely side-stepping the question.

"We––or at least I––headed to the shooting range. I don't know where the colonel went."

I muttered, "Figures."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing at all!"

Ed hugged me tightly. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you from that." He whispered. I hugged him back. "It's OK. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that was going to happen. It's not like I _wanted_ him to kiss me anyways!"

"………Yeah." He kissed me gently.

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat after a minute. We broke apart a split-second later with guilty expressions on both our faces, simultaneously thinking _I totally forgot she was there!_ "Don't worry, if this gets around HQ, it won't be because of me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A couple of days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, does this mean we get to see you a lot more often now?" Havoc wanted to know, waggling his eyebrows up and down.

I giggled and blushed a bit. "Yeah, I guess so." I was in Central HQ, sitting on top of a desk, lazily swinging my legs back and forth. Ed sat in between me and Lieutenant Havoc.

"Cut it out guys, she's _my _girlfriend!" Apparently, the Fullmetal Alchemist was extremely possessive.

As Roy's subordinates teased Ed about his remark, Hawkeye entered the room. All in the room saluted and chorused, "Good morning Lieutenant!"

"Morning! Ed, the Colonel wants to talk to you for a minute."

"What, right now?" Hawkeye nodded in confirmation. Ed grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Colonel Bastard", and gave me a quick kiss. "I'll be right back. K?"

"M'kay."

After a while, I wandered out to the hallway to wait for Ed. I then heard a familiar clanking noise approach. "Hey Marina! Where's brother?"

"Hey! Uh, he's in one of these rooms. I think Mustang wanted to talk to him."

"Ah." A semi-awkward pause was brought into existence. "So you guys are together now, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm really happy for you guys! Brother hasn't been interested in girls, so I'm glad he's found you. You're his first girlfriend you know."

"Really? Well, to be perfectly honest with you, he's my first boyfriend." Another semi-awkward pause was created, perhaps the younger sibling of the first.

"Look, Al? I-I know that Ed and I are together, and I know you'd probably feel uncomfortable if we……you know…….showed a bunch of affection when you're around, but I don't want you feeling like you're a third wheel in our relationship. If anything, _I_ feel like a third wheel between you and Ed! I just……..want to resolve this before it becomes an actual problem, savvy?"

The suit of armor nodded. "I understand Marina. Don't worry about it." He gave me a light hug. "Hey, you're kinda like my big sister now!"

My face lit up with delight as I realized this statement to be true, and I hugged him back. We chatted until Ed emerged from the door next to Al.

_Colonel Bastard! What was that all about?_ Ed thought.

"Brother! What'd Mustang talk to you about?"

"Hey Al! Um, he gave us a clue to finding the Philosopher's Stone."

"Really? Where is it? Let's go get it!" They concocted plans, their excitement escalating every second.

"Philosopher's Stone? What's that?" I inquired. Alas, my questions went unanswered.

"Wait a minute……..Marina could come with us!"

"………….What?!" Ed pulled me close to him and gave me a kiss.

"Yes, yes she could."

I kissed my short boyfriend back. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to the countryside to find the Philosopher's Stone."

"Okay, but what is this Philosopher's Stone of which you speak?"

The Elric brothers stared at me for a moment, looked at each other, nodded decisively, and looked back at me. _Oh boy._

"Welcome to Alchemy 101!" A whiteboard––complete with markers and an eraser–– materialized out of nowhere. Al drew various diagrams––many of them containing cats––on it, while Ed explained the basics of alchemy to me. "The first thing to learn is the Law of Equivalent Exchange, which states that in order to gain, something of equal value must be lost. The Philosopher's Stone allows an alchemist to bypass this law, meaning that if you had it you can do anything you wanted, including human transmutation."

"And you want this stone……why?"

"We lost our mom, so we attempted human transmutation to bring her back. Following the Law of Equivalent Exchange, Ed's arm and leg were taken, as well as my entire body. That's why Ed has auto-mail and I'm in a suit of armor."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry!"

"It's OK. I was going to tell you all this sooner or later."

"If you say so. If I'm going to assist you guys in your quest for the philosopher's stone, then I'm gonna have to ask Hawkeye for permission. You know how she is."

"Ask me what?" Hawkeye had snuck up on us while I was learning about alchemy

"Erm, if I can travel with Ed and Al. May I?"

The lieutenant sighed. "As long as you don't get yourself killed, yes."

"Yay! Thank you!" I glomped my guardian, who looked a little uncomfortable with the sudden display of affection.

Ed and I walked around the outside of HQ for a bit, Ed explaining the purpose of his quest in more detail. Unbeknownst to us, the entirety of Mustang's subordinates––the colonel included––were watching us out of the window. "Awwww, they make such a cute couple!"

"Fullmetal's really grown up."


	6. Who Can It Be Now?

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Marcoh, Scar, random villagers, Hughes, Armstrong, Gran © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 6: Who Can It Be Now?**

The next day, we traveled by train to a small village in the middle of nowhere. "Would Doctor Marcoh really be here?" Al wondered.

I gave him a pointed look. "You never know unless you ask." I then approached some random villager. "Excuse me ma'am, have you heard of a Doctor Marcoh?"

"Doctor Marcoh? I'm sorry, I've never heard of him. You must be asking for Doctor _Mauro_."

"Yes, that's who I meant. Sorry about the misunderstanding." I replied, a bit sheepish. "Is he around here then? Can you tell me anything about him?"

"Oh yes! He's a wonderful man. My husband was recently in an accident with our tractor, and injured his leg quite badly. Doctor Mauro was able to heal his leg and the result was such that it looked like my husband hadn't even been in the accident!"

The woman's young daughter added, "I saw a bright light when papa was getting his leg fixed!"

"He does sound like a wonderful man. Do you happen to know where he is right now? I have a friend who is hurt fairly badly."

The woman was all too happy to comply. She pointed to a street. "Take a left at that street, and continue for a block. You should arrive at a couple of houses, and Dr. Mauro's is the one at the very end."

"Thank you very much ma'am!" I bowed to her and walked back to Ed and Al with a smug look on my face. "And that, boys, is how it's done!"

Ed looked stupefied. "H-how? W-what?"

I smirked. "I have my ways."

We were following the woman's directions when, out of the blue, Ed pushed me and Al into a pile of hay.

"Brother, what's the big idea?! I'm filling up with straw!"

"Yes Ed, do explain."

"Shhhhh! See that guy?" We all looked out of a gap in the hay and saw a rather tall guy looking around. He wore a military uniform and was bald, except for a curl of blond hair on his forehead and a bushy blond mustache. "He's a state alchemist. I recognize him from HQ."

"Okay, then why is he here? Is he following us?"

"I don't know how else to explain it." After the suspicious man disappeared, we got out of the hay bale and continued on our way.

We eventually came to a plain-looking house. Ed and Al stayed at the base of the stairs as I walked up and lightly knocked on the door. "Um, Doctor Marc––" The door creaked open, revealing a man holding a gun, the barrel pointed towards me. "o."

A shot was heard, and I closed my eyes, waiting for certain death. "MARINA-CHAN!!"

Ed attempted to transmute a wall in front of me, praying it would reach me in time. I reluctantly opened my eyes to find………..a concrete wall in front of me. Ed flew up the stairs and smushed me in a protective hug. "Marina, are you all right?!?!"

"Yeah. Thank you. Erm, Ed, as strange as it sounds, you're squishing me."

"Sorry!.........Wait……WHO ARE YOU CALLIING A––" I cut him off with a quick kiss. Al, meanwhile, re-transmuted the concrete wall back into the concrete floor.

"Dr. Marcoh, please put the gun down. We just want to ask you some questions."

"No……no more questions or orders! I couldn't bear it going back to that place. Or…..have you come to…….silence me? Think you can kill me? Well, I don't have to just let that happen." Al stood between me and the gun's barrel.

"Al?" Ed questioned.

"It's all OK. Shoot if you want, but I won't die. You're the only one who might get hurt."

After what seemed like forever, Marcoh slowly put the gun down and let us into the house.

We sat around a medium sized table while Dr. Marcoh told us what happened, and why the military is after him. Apparently, Marcoh had created a faux philosopher's stone for the military to use in the Ishbal Rebellion. Eventually, Marcoh got disgusted with what his creation was being used for. "So I deserted the battlefield. When I left, I stole all the research I'd compiled; their books, my notes. I have a hunch the military's still looking for me so they can see what I've found out." He went on to explain his guilt over creating something used in a genocide, and how killing him would only be a kind gesture to him. The doctor's eyes darted towards the wall on the left for a split-second, something that wasn't missed by Ed. The blond ran over to the wall, and created a hole using alchemy. What he found was a vial of a thick liquid-like substance. "Brother, what are you doing? This is wrong!" Al took a hold of his elder brother, they struggled, the vial flew out of Ed's hands, and broke. The substance in the vial congealed into a red stone, much to everyone's surprise. Well, except doctor Marcoh.

"The Philosopher's Stone, the Astral Stone, Elixir, the Red Tincture, and the Fifth Element. As the various names imply, it does not necessarily have to be a stone. Crystal Alchemist, hand over the Philosopher's Stone and its research data." Brigadier General Basque Gran, the Iron Blood Alchemist had arrived. The doctor was dragged into a car as the townspeople looked on, distraught. "I haven't grown at all. I can't let my heart stay a shorty!" Ed exclaimed and dashed off after the car.

"Brother, wait up!" Al yelled, exasperated. Of course, we had to follow the blond to make sure he didn't get himself into any trouble.

We eventually caught up to Ed, who had stopped because the car stopped. The car had stopped because of a dark-skinned man standing in front of it. He had a rather large X-shaped scar on his forehead and wore a pair of sunglasses. Let's call him Scar. The Brigadier General got out of the car to question him when Scar lunged at the state alchemist, right arm outstretched. I noticed that said arm had a pattern tattooed around it. Scar grabbed Gran's face, and there was a flash of red light. The state alchemist's face imploded, blood streaming out of the eyes, nose, and mouth. Just like that, the venerable Iron Blood Alchemist had fallen.

Scar then approached Marcoh, who was ready to accept his fate. Ed, however, was not. He snatched the doctor as Scar extended his deadly arm and ran. "Marina, come on!" That was all the motivation I needed to sprint after my boyfriend. We ran by some tunnels, Al caught our attention, we took cover in the tunnel he was in, and the suit of armor sealed the tunnel with alchemy. All three of us breathed sighs of relief…………until a sizable hole coupled with a flash of red light appeared in the wall; Scar had caught up. We turned to run to the other side of the tunnel, but Scar used his destructive arm to block off our only hope of freedom.

"Who are you? Why are you after our lives?" Ed demanded.

"If you people are the ones who create, there are ones who destroy. Alchemists transform objects into evil things. That is blasphemy to the creator of all things, God. I am God's representative……..and executioner." Scar's killing intent intensified so much that it made the air thick and heavy. Sensing this, I darted in front of my boyfriend right as Scar lunged at Ed. As a result, Scar hit me in the chest instead. The blow knocked me back, my motion stopped suddenly by the wall of the tunnel. "Marina!!"

"Stay out of this. Only State Alchemists are my enemies. Why do you endanger yourself?"

Though I was bleeding heavily, I managed to stand up, staunch the flow of blood via green healing chakra, and catch my breath. "I will lay down my life to protect this state alchemist."

Ed ran over to me and Scar readied another attack. However, he was obviated due to spikes transmuted from the tunnel floor. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was asked by the Lieutenant Colonel to guard you." The state alchemist we hid from earlier emerged from the rubble behind us.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes?"

The alchemist nodded in confirmation. "Representative of God, try to execute me; the Strong Arm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong!" They duked it out, flashes of red and yellow light illuminating our escape route.


	7. Getaway

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Hawkeye, Hughes, Mustang & co., Scar, Marcoh © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

_Bold Italics: jutsu_

* * *

**Ch 7: Getaway**

The four of us ran like bats out of Hell and ended up in a city in the pouring rain. _What's up with this weather?! It was just sunny a minute ago, and now it's raining! Plus, I'm getting hungry………._ Shukaku complained.

_Quiet you! Wait a minute………since when do you eat anything?!_ We hid behind some potted plants as a couple of military trucks drove by.

"We don't have to run anymore……I don't care if that man kills me. He has the right to do it." Marcoh further explained the reason for the Ishbal Massacre, and how his creation was used. He then got paranoid and ran. We chased after and reassured him, and everything seemed to be peachy. Suddenly, we heard several gunshots and Scar appeared, vaulting over a balcony and landing in the middle of our group.

The Ishballan lunged at Marcoh, but Al grabbed his right hand before he could do anything. "I know that you're just an empty suit of armour!" Scar freed his right arm and Al's right side exploded into hundreds of tiny pieces.

"AL!!!" Enraged, Ed attacked the Ishballan. Scar gripped the alchemist's right arm in his hand.

"By putting your two hands together, you create a circle, then transmute with the circulated power. You cannot transmute without this annoying arm. I will destroy it." There was a flash of red light, and like Al, Ed's auto-mail arm became mere shards of metal. Ed fell to the ground, paralyzed with shock.

"EDWARD!!" I internally took a deep breath. With both Elric brothers down for the count, it was up to me to protect the doctor.

_What can I do? It's raining, but I don't know any Suiton jutsu. Let's see…………….._ A lit light bulb appeared out of nowhere. _Of course! Water and electricity don't mix! I don't want to steal __their__ jutsu, and I've never done it before, but……..here goes nothing! Ushi, U, Saru; __**CHIDORI!**_ The chirping of a thousand birds filled the air as a ball of chakra-turned-lightning formed in my left hand.

I charged at Scar, left arm ready to strike. He dodged to my right at the last second, but I managed to change my path in time and graze his right side with the condensed sphere of lightning. Wounded, the Ishballan retreated and took off around a corner. With chakra, I created a magnet out of my hands and pick up most­––if not all––of the auto-mail and armor bits, and gave them to Marcoh for him to hold.

"Al, are you OK?"

"Stupid brother!" Out of the blue, Al punched Ed.

"What was that for?"

"Why didn't you leave me and run?"

"You would've been killed!"

"Um, guys?" I tried to get their attention.

"That's not a good enough reason, stupid!"

"Guys?!" The second time didn't work either.

"Don't call your older brother stupid!"

Al grabbed the front of his brother's jacket. "I'll tell you as many times as it's needed! We need to––" Al's hold on Ed loosened and the suit of armor stopped arguing. "Look, my arm came off! Brother, you retard!"

Ed smiled wryly. "We're a mess."

I hugged the blond from behind, and gave him a soft kiss. "But we're alive."

"……….Yeah." He kissed me back. Marcoh gave back the remains of auto-mail and armor I had him hold, and departed in a military car. However, before he left us, the doctor surreptitiously dropped a note on the ground. I noticed, picked it up, and pocketed it before either brother could spot anything.

We were taken back to Central HQ, and given time to recuperate from the adrenaline fest.

"Hey Ed, Marcoh left us a note earlier. Here." I un-crumpled the note and gave it to the state alchemist.

"National Central library, 1st branch. The genuine truth behind truths. What the hell does that mean?!" Colonel Mustang and company entered the room, interrupting our mini brainstorming session.

"Al, in order to fix you, I need to do something about this arm first."

"Yes……If Edward can't use alchemy at all……." my guardian mused.

"He's just a foul-mouthed brat." Havoc became the recipient of my death glare and I lobbed a pen-turned-semi-dangerous-projectile at him.

"Don't listen to them Ed. You did your best, and that's what matters." I gently kissed him and hugged him protectively.

"Awwwww, you guys are so cute together! Almost as cute as Elysia!"

"Anyway, I'm going to see my mechanic."

"That's going to be a long journey. If that's the case…I have to accompany the Fuhrer and his party." Hughes contemplated.

"I can't leave," announced the flame alchemist.

"I have to keep an eye on him because he'll ditch work." Hawkeye stated.

"I don't think I can protect you three from that dangerous guy."

"Same as him!" The rest of the Colonel's subordinates declared.

"Then it's decided. During your journey, _I_ will escort you three!" Major Armstrong flexed his muscles, shirtless in front of a pink, flowery background.

"I don't need an escort!"

Hawkeye wanted to know, "What will you do if Scar attacks you again while you're like that? You can't carry Al like that either."

"……………"

"Now then Edward Elric, let's begin packing."

We––Ed, Armstrong, and I––boarded a train early the next morning. Al was in another car because he had to be checked as luggage. As we found our seats, Lieutenant Hughes approached Ed from the outside of the train. "Hey, I have a message from Roy; 'Taking care of the details is troublesome, so try not to die within my jurisdiction.' That's all."

"Roger. 'I will _never _die before you, stupid Colonel.' Tell him that. While you're at it, take this escort with you." After delivering his friend's message, Hughes departed, minus the major.

I stifled a yawn, and Ed kissed me. "Go to sleep sweetheart. We won't get to Risembool for a while."

"M'kay." I curled up on the seat, head in my boyfriend's lap.

"Night babe." He kissed me again.

"Night." _Where the hell are these pet names coming from???_ With that thought, I drifted off to dreamland.


	8. Having A Blast

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Armstrong, grandfather, granddaughter, policeman © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

**_Bold Italics: jutsu_**

* * *

**Ch 8: Having A Blast**

The fullmetal alchemist watched the countryside speed by. "She loves you, you know." Armstrong informed him.

"Yeah, I know." The blond took a moment to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. He chuckled softly. "When I asked her out, I honestly thought she was going to reject me."

"Because?"

"I dunno…......my auto-mail, I guess."

"And why is that?"

"I just figure having two auto-mail limbs was a huge turn-off, but Marina doesn't mind. If anything, she wants to learn more about auto-mail and help me take care of it. She's even willing to travel ridiculous distances with me to find the Philosopher's Stone. She's absolutely amazing, and I can't believe I found her!"

"From what I heard, she put her life on the line not once, but TWICE, in order to protect you. That right there is a testament to her love for you."

"Yeah." The blond gazed at my sleeping form and smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A few hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up sweetheart! We need to change trains." Ed kissed my cheek.

"Nnnhhh……." It took me a while to fully awaken. Once awake, I sat upright and stretched my arms towards the ceiling. Ed playfully poked me in the stomach and was rewarded with an indignant squawk. "Itai! Hey, how long was I asleep for?" I asked.

"You slept for the entire trip."

"Did I really?"

He smiled and kissed me again. "Uh-huh."

Armstrong and I waited on the station platform while Ed went to retrieve his little brother. A minute later, he returned, unusually perturbed. "Guys, Al isn't in the car!"

"Maybe they accidentally dropped him off at the last stop?" I guessed.

"I'm going to get Al. Marina, stay with the Major, OK?" The blond gave me a quick kiss. "I'll be back soon."

"Ed…………" I trailed off and sighed as my boyfriend sprinted away.

A while later, the major and I approached a policeman. "Have you seen a suit of armor that looks like this?" Armstrong pulled out a sketchbook and rapidly sketched a realistic picture of Ed's younger brother.

"You're good at drawing!" The policeman complimented.

_It's been at least three hours. I hope Ed is OK. _"Excuse me Armstrong, sir? I have to go to the bathroom, so……….." My notification fell on deaf ears as the state alchemist bragged about the drawing ability that apparently has been passed through his family for generations.

I headed in the direction of the bathroom but decided to make a left instead, ending up in a narrow alleyway. _**BYAKUGAN!**_ I activated the Hyuuga kekkei genkai. After scanning for a bit, I gasped due to finding my boyfriend almost unconscious on the ground, sans arm AND leg. _Sorry Major, but Ed needs me right now._ Turning off the blood line limit, I shuushined to a spot close to where he had fallen. Running to him, I clapped my hands together and slammed them on the wet ground in desperation. To my surprise, a flash of purple light emanated from my hands, and Ed now had a right arm and left leg. Both were made of earth, but they would do. _Was that––? D-did I just––?_ I was speechless for a moment.

"………Marina………you just performed alchemy. And without a transmutation circle to boot!" Ed shook his head in disbelief. "You really are amazing!"

I blushed, not used to the praise. "No I'm not!.........Never mind that, what happened? Why was your leg gone?"

"You are too! Don't you _ever_ try to deny it!..........I have no idea. All I know is that I was trying to find Al, a crate got dropped on me, and when I woke up, I saw a little girl run away with my leg." I helped him stand up, and I spotted a house at the end of the path.

"Maybe your leg is in there?"

A worn-out looking man with a crutch opened the door when I knocked on it. "Excuse me sir? We have reason to believe your daughter has taken my boyfriend's auto-mail leg."

"She's actually not my daughter. She's my granddaughter."

"Ahahaha, sorry about that." I felt embarrassed, and Ed gave me a reassuring kiss.

He let us in, seeing as it was raining. We sat around a table drinking tea, me on the alchemist's lap. By this time, Ed had his auto-mail back on; the temporary leg disintegrated earlier.

"I'm sorry. She was trying to help out this old geezer in her own way."  
"So she took it thinking it would help you out, huh?"

"I do not need an artificial leg. I lost my leg, but in exchange, I gained something much more valuable; peace in my heart, and this lifestyle with my grandchildren. And……….perhaps people gain something after losing something." After a while, the rain subsided, and I went outside to play with the guy's granddaughter. She had a ton of energy and ran around like crazy, showing off. I giggled and chased after her, tickling her when I caught her. Both adult and teen observed us through a window. "She would make a good mother."

Ed blushed at the mental picture that the comment created. "W-who? Marina?"

"Is that her name? Yes, she gets along well with children, it seems."

The granddaughter got tired after a spell, we went back inside, and I was greeted with a passionate kiss from my boyfriend, which I returned. "Mmmmmm, Ed, we have to find Al."

"We do? Oh yeah. Hehe, whoops!"

I rolled my eyes. "You forgot, didn't you?"

"………..No?"

I turned to the grandfather and bowed. "We have to go now, but thank you very much for the tea."

"Don't go onee-chan!" The little girl glommed to my legs, on the verge of tears.

"Awwww, there, there, don't cry. Onee-chan will come back to visit soon, k?" I knelt so that I saw eye to eye with her, and tenderly kissed her forehead. The grandfather gave Ed a See-What-I-Mean? look.

After waving good-bye, Ed and I strolled down the road hand in hand. A short while later, we found Al by the side of the road, and the major had caught up. We all heard the whistle of the train a minute later. "Oh no! If we miss that train, we'll have to wait until noon tomorrow!" The Strong Arm Alchemist picked up Ed and his brother.

"What are you doing?!"

"We're running with the very fast dashing method passed down in my family!" Armstrong started running with both Elrics on his shoulders. I sweat-dropped and channeled some chakra into my legs to increase my pace.


	9. Heading Home

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Winry Rockbell, Pinako Rockbell, Armstrong © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 9: Heading Home**

"It's been four years since we last came here." Al remarked.

Ed looked at his brother. "Has it been that long?"

"You never came back here during that time?" The major wanted to know.

"Even if we did return, we have no home to come back to."

I put in my two cents. "The place where someone still thinks of you is called home. I'm sure there's _someone_ thinking of you two in this town…………"

As we arrived at a yellow house, an old woman approached us. She and Ed got along well…………until she made the mistake of calling the blond short. I sweat-dropped as they fiercely argued back and forth. Suddenly, a wrench came flying out of nowhere and smacked Ed in the middle of his forehead, knocking him to the ground. "ED!" I exclaimed.

"What the hell, Winry?! Are you trying to kill me?!" The short blond demanded, rubbing a giant bump where the wrench had made contact. He stood up and I reduced the swelling with healing chakra.

A blond young woman marched towards us, wearing work overalls and gloves. "Who do you think you are, coming back in that state?!" I oh-so-subtly nudged Ed with my foot.

"Oh yeah, right. Winry, Pinako baa-chan, this is my girlfriend Marina. Marina, this is my mechanic Winry Rockbell, and her grandmother Pinako Rockbell."

I extended my left hand for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you Winr­––." The mechanic turned around while I was in mid-sentence and stomped back to the house, shutting the front door with a bang. I retracted my hand, holding it to my chest. "Did I do something wrong? W-was it something I said?" Ed squeezed my right hand and gave me a kiss in reassurance.

"That's Winry for you. She'll come around sooner or later." _I hope._

A half an hour or so later, we all sat around a table eating lunch. I was sitting directly across from Winry, and between Ed and Pinako. Conversation had been light and just a tad awkward for me. "So Edward, how does Marina measure up to your standards?" Winry's grandmother questioned.

The state alchemist thought for a split-second. "She completely destroys them."

Winry abruptly stood up and slammed her hands on the table, disturbing our meal. "You must have _really _crappy standards Ed!" With that, she sprinted outside. I bit my bottom lip and closed my eyes, fighting to hold back unwanted tears.

Ed gave me a gentle hug. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK." I kissed my boyfriend. "I'm fine. Really. Where'd Winry disappear to?"

"She's probably in her workshop out back."

"Thank you Pinako Baa-san." Disentangling myself from Ed, I sashayed to the door.

"You're not going to Winry's workshop, are you?" The elder Elric brother looked uneasy.

"Well, I don't see why not. I just want to know what I did to offend her. That's all."

"No-one, and I mean _no-one_ is allowed in there but her." Shrugging off the warning, I went to find the female mechanic.

I knocked on the wall inside the work-space. "Winry?"

"Yeah?" She turned around to discover that the person asking for her was the person she wanted to see the least. "Oh, it's _you. _What do you want?" There was an awkward silence as I tried to figure out what I wanted. "If you can't think of anything, get out!"

I suddenly bowed. "Please teach me how to make auto-mail!"

Winry pretended to think for a moment. "No."

I straightened out and demanded, "Why not?"

"Because I say so. Now LEAVE!!" The mechanic brandished a wrench.

"Now wait just a minute! What did I ever do to you? Why do you hate me so much?!" I challenged, up in arms.

Winry grudgingly backed down. "………..Idontwanttotalkaboutit…………..All right, I'll teach you, but only if you're prepared to work your rear off and follow my instructions to the letter."

"Yes ma'am!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Several hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the house, Ed restlessly paced back and forth. _It's been a few hours since Marina left to find Winry. I wonder what happened. _He stopped as his imagination went into overdrive. _Oh no! What if she––?!_

"Brother, stop it; you're making me nervous. Go visit mom's grave."

"Visit her grave, huh? You know, I just might." The blond exited the building.

Ed poked his head into Winry's workshop. To his surprise, the female mechanic and I were getting along well. Too well.

"Hey Winry, I'm done with this part! Can you come check it?"

The short blond watched as Winry inspected my work. "Tch, baka! You put this part on backwards!"

"Did I?...........oops?" Winry returned to whatever she was working on before, and I started redoing my piece. Ed tip-toed into the room, undetected by either of us. Sneaking up behind me, he suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist. I yelped in alarm, and turned around, coming face-to-face with my boyfriend, who gave me a kiss. "Ed?! H-hi."

The alchemist nuzzled the crook of my neck. "I missed you."

"Edward, what are you doing in here? Out, now!" Unfortunately, Winry had noticed.

"I'm taking back my girlfriend."

"Wha––?.........Well, we got a bunch of stuff done, so I guess it's OK. Marina, you're dismissed for the rest of today!"

"Thanks Winry!" With that, Ed pulled me out of the room.

"Where are we going?"

"There's someone I want you to meet."

Hand in hand, Ed and I traipsed through the countryside, eventually arriving at a graveyard. We approached a tombstone reading 'Trisha Elric. 1878–1904.' _Trisha Elric……….Ed's mom?!_ I gradually extricated my hand from Ed's and backed up a bit. The alchemist gave me a questioning look. "What's up Marina?"

"It's been four years since you were last here. I don't want to impose."

"In what way? You're not imposing! C'mere." I walked towards him and he pulled me to his side, his left arm around my waist.


	10. The Fallen Interlude

Hey guys, it's been a while (read at least 2 months). Sorry! I wanted to power through my last weeks of high school, so I put ACCIA to the side........but now that I'm done, I can focus on writing. That, and I was stuck in the middle of this chapter, and didn't know where to go next for the LONGEST time. DX I hope chapter 11 won't be as ornery. Anyways, enjoy ch 10!

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Trisha Elric, Winry Rockbell, Armstrong © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 10: The Fallen Interlude**

"Hey Mom. It's been a while, hasn't it? Al couldn't come, but……….I want to introduce you to someone."

Ed nudged me forward and I bowed. "Um, hi. I'm Marina, Ed's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you Mrs. Elric."

"It's nice to meet you too." I started in surprise, but activated the Byakugan. A semi-translucent woman appeared in my view, leaning against her headstone. She had brown, shoulder-length hair that was tied in a ponytail, and was holding a basket of fruits and vegetables. "Just Trisha is fine; no formalities please. If you're as close to my son as I think you are……." she teased. "You can see me? Hmmm, that's a first."

"Is it now?" _Shukaku, wanna explain anything?_

_Not really._

_Psh, some help _you_ are._

_Hey, I'm just a big hunk of chakra. What do you want me to do?_

I sighed and glanced at Ed……who wasn't moving. "Ed?" I waved a hand back and forth in front of his face. "Edward?"

"Oh I forgot to tell you, I stopped time. It's something you learn to do after you die."

I raised an eyebrow. "……..No kidding."

"So how did you two meet?"

"It was purely coincidental. I suppose it would help to know that your eldest is a state alchemist—has been for three years—, and I am the niece of the fuhrer. I was on a tour of Central Headquarters, Ed came barreling through the door of the room I was in, and my guardian introduced us." I snickered. "I heard his voice before I saw the shorty. If he hadn't entered the room when he did…….."

"Where did he take you on your first date?"

I blushed. "He took me to a couples-only French restaurant. Chaos ensued, but all in all, I had a nice time."

"Well, if things keep going the way they are now, I'm going to be your mother-in-law soon."

I blushed even more, my face turning a red rivaling that of the tomatoes in Trisha's basket. "……….R-right."

"Well, better you than that girl Winry Rockbell. I never really liked her. She had such a foul mouth! Have you met her yet?"

"Yeah. I'm helping her build Ed's auto-ma––" I stopped and immediately covered my mouth with my hands._ That was close._

"Auto-mail? What happened to Ed?" Trisha looked concerned.

_Or not. Oops? _"Ah………er………." _I can't exactly tell Trisha that her sons tried to resurrect her and now have auto-mail slash an empty suit of armor for a body as a result. _"Um, it's………better if you don't know." _Nice cover! _Inner Me wiped her brow in relief.

"Marina was it?" I nodded in confirmation. "I'm going to trust you on this, Marina. All right, I'll let you go now." Trisha hugged me. "It's nice to meet you, future daughter-in-law. Take care of Ed and Al for me, and let them know I say hello. Come back to visit soon!"

"I will!" I waved goodbye and watched Trisha fade into the sunset.

"Hey Marina? How'd you get all the way over there?"

I tackled my boyfriend in response. "Your mom says hi."

Ed looked bemused. "Waitwaitwait, you actually talked with Mom?" I gave him a smooch and nodded. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah. I know, I'm crazy."

"But that's why I love you!"

I raised an eyebrow. "……..You love me 'cause I'm a crazy psycho?"

"No!........Well, that too, but I love you because you're you." I briefly stuck my tongue out at the blond, he returned the kiss, and we lay in the grass watching the rest of the sunset.

After it got dark, a flashing light caught my eye. "What the?" Ed turned his gaze towards said light and smiled. "Ed?" I questioned.

"When Al and I were little, we used to play outside a lot, and when it got dark, Mom would flash a light on and off from the second floor. That was her way of telling us it was time for us to come home."

"And Winry's continuing the tradition."

"Yup. All right, let's go." He stood up, and pulled me up and into a kiss.

When we got back, Winry showed us to our room then left us to our own devices. "Um, there're three of us and only two beds. How's this gonna work?" Ed wanted to know.

"Ed, you and Al can have the beds. I'll sleep on the floor." I put forth.

"What?! Marina, you take one of the beds, and I'll sleep on the floor. I'm just a suit of armor after all."

"Awwww, I don't want you to sleep on the floor Al!"

"How about Marina and Ed share one of the beds and Al can take the other one. You ARE going out, aren't you?"

"M-major, when did you get in here?" I asked, blushing at the mental picture his suggestion created. "And where are you sleeping?"

"Don't worry about me; I'm sleeping on the couch downstairs."

"M'kay then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sometime in the middle of the night~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Marina?"

"Nnnnhhhh?" I was slightly awake and turned to face the alchemist.

"Do you love me?"

I was now 100 percent awake. _Where the hell did THAT come from?! _"Of course I love you!.............OK, let me put it to you this way: I wouldn't be across the country if I didn't love you. And I wouldn't be half naked in bed with you if I didn't love you."

Ed laughed softly. "You have a point."

"But that brings up questions for me. Do you love me? I mean.......I'm the fuhrer's niece, so.............for all I know, you could be taking advantage of that fact to garner a promotion from my uncle."

"Marina, I could care less about military ranking! The only reason why I became a state alchemist was because I would have access to better research materials in order to find the philosopher's stone........Let me put it to you this way: I wouldn't have asked you to come on this trip with me if I didn't love you. And I wouldn't be half naked in bed with you if I didn't love you. I'll say is as many times as I need to. IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyo––" Ed got interrupted due to a smooch from me.

"Hey, are you guys OK now?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Sorry Al, we didn't mean to wake you up!"

"It's OK. Marina nee-chan, I've been with brother my entire life, and I've never seen him so passionate about anything or anyone until he met you. His love for you is even greater than trying to get our bodies back." The blond kissed me gently. "Brother, I can't say much for Marina nee-chan cause I don't know her as well, but she's putting up with Winry. That's more than enough proof that she loves you." Ed grinned, though the younger Elric brother couldn't see his reaction in the dark. "All right, goodnight you two."

"Night Al!" The state alchemist and I chorused. It only took about a minute for sleep to welcome us back with arms wide open.

* * *

Holy Jashin, I didn't think I'd make it to ch 10 of ACCIA, much less past ch 5. O_O a HUGE thank you to those of you who have been reading this story (the few of you that there are), and please, PLEASE review! I don't know what I'm doing wrong, or even what I 'm doing right, so even the tiniest bit of feedback would be nice.

In case you guys haven't noticed, all the chapter titles are names of songs. bonus points to those of you who can name all 10 bands. (I probably should have credited the bands..........but then all the fun would have been taken out of the guessing game)


	11. Takin' Care of Business

Luckily, this chapter wasn't as ornery as I thought it was going to be. ^^

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Winry Rockbell, Pinako Rockbell, Alex Louis Armstrong © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 11: Takin' Care of Business**

I woke up––somewhat unwillingly––and turned my head a bit to the right..........to find Ed's replacement arm wrapped around my waist. The fullmetal alchemist nuzzled the crook of my neck and kissed me. "Good morning Marina-chan!"

"Morning!" I softly returned the kiss.

The door opened with a crash, signaling the female auto-mail mechanic's entrance. "GOOD MORNING LOVEBIRDS!!!!!" She strode over to the windows and tugged the blinds back, introducing brilliant sunlight to our eyes, who weren't all that enthused to meet it.

In response, Ed yanked the covers over both of our heads. "Dammit Winry! It's too bright! Put 'em back, put 'em back!"

She sighed in exasperation. "I'll give you guys a couple more minutes, but Marina, you said you wanted to learn to make auto-mail. Get your butt in the workshop no later than 5 minutes from now. Or ELSE!!"

"Yes ma'am!" The muffled reply came from underneath the covers.

After Winry left, I gradually pulled the covers back and sat on the edge of the bed, about to get up. Ed wrapped his arms firmly around my waist, effectively preventing me from leaving. "Meh, don't go yet."

"Ed, your auto-mail isn't going to build itself. Plus, Winry is right; I do want to learn how to build auto-mail, and I can't do that if I'm not in the workshop with her. Speaking of which...........I have to go. I don't want to get 'or else'd'. I have no idea what that means, nor do I want to find out."

Ed pouted against my back. "Awwww, fine. I'm not gonna have anything to do though."

"Go visit the rest of Risembool. I'm sure everyone wants to see you." I did a 180-degree turn, gave Ed a kiss, and went to join Winry in her workshop. She and I worked on Ed's auto-mail non-stop for two days, while Ed wandered around town.

Once we were done, the auto-mail had to be attached. At first, Ed made a fuss––connecting nerves is painful, apparently––, but Winry brandished a wrench. The alchemist then made a deal; he would stop complaining if I was close by. Winry agreed, and allowed me to connect the auto-mail left leg.

Ed grumbled, "Ugh, I want to regain my normal body and say goodbye to this pain."

"It would be such a shame to lose a money spender like you." Pinako remarked.

"Yeah. You don't have to go through the trouble of returning to your normal body. The smell of oil, creaking artificial muscles, and the roaring bearings––Auto-mail is so wonderful!"

"You machine freak."

"Do you have a problem with that, you alchemy freak?! Ready Marina? On three. One, TWO!" I connected the leg while the female mechanic connected the arm, and the alchemist was subjected to a massive amount of pain in a relatively short period of time.

"What the hell happened to 'three'?!" Ed managed to demand before passing out from pain overload. We let the alchemist recuperate on the couch. Everyone left, but I remained on the couch by Ed's head, watching him sleep.

Once he woke up, Ed flexed the joints in his auto-mail. "Thanks Winry!"

"Don't thank me, thank your girlfriend. If it wasn't for her, your auto-mail would've been done in about a week or more. She's a fast learner, I'll give her that much...............She pulled 2 all-nighters in a row, you know."

Ed turned to me and his jaw dropped. "Y-you pulled two all-nighters in a row?! OK, bed. Now."

"What?! I'm not even tired!" I protested indignantly.

"I don't care. Go to bed and get some rest!"

"I can't!"

"And why's that?" He demanded.

"Doofus, it's the middle of the day!"

Ed somehow pushed me up the stairs and locked me in our room.

"Go to sleep!" There was a flash of blue light as he transmuted the door shut.

"No!" There was a flash of purple light, and no flash of blue for a minute.

_What the? Oh yeah, she can do alchemy now. I forgot._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A few minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winry and Al both sweat-dropped as they saw alternating flashes of blue and purple light, and heard our bickering. "I don't even want to know what their domestic disputes will be like." After a minute, Winry had had enough. She marched up the stairs, wrench in hand. "STOP WRECKING MY HOUSE!!!!" I winced as I heard Winry wrench Ed and give him a mini lecture. Then, "Marina!" I cowered in fear behind the door. "I'll spare you this time because you're a guest. But next time you won't be so lucky!"

"Duly noted!" Came the riposte. Once I made sure Winry had cooled off, I unlocked the door and walked downstairs. "Hey, Ed? Isn't it time to repair your little brother?"

"Oh yeah. Let's fix you, Al."

I shook my head. "I swear Ed, sometimes you have a mind like a sieve." He and I made our way outside while Armstrong carried Al.

"Are these all of the armor fragments?"

I answered, "I picked up as much as I could, and the rest were given to me by Lieutenant Hawkeye and company."

"You can fix him right away?" asked the Major.

"There's a trick to it though." Ed reached over and took the helmet off of the armor. He pointed to an eight-pointed star inside a circle. "See that seal there? That thing mediates between Al's soul and the armor."

"That was a close call there." Al commented. "If he had gouged out any more of the armor........."

"We have to protect that no matter what. It's the important part that ties Al to the armor."

Armstrong took a closer look. "It looks like it was written in blood."

"Yeah, it's my blood." Ed admitted. "I was pretty desperate..........."

"What?! What wonderful brotherly love! What an incredible bond you two share!" I sweat-dropped as the Major posed with pink, manly sparkles all around him.

The Elric brothers also sweat-dropped. "Can you move?" the older brother asked. "You're in the way." Armstrong's sparkles fell to the grass, totally ignored. "All right, let's do this." A clap of Ed's hands and a flash of blue light later, and the suit of armor was repaired, as good as new.


	12. Fit as a Fiddle

Not much to say, except "enjoy chapter 12"

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Winry Rockbell, Pinako Rockbell, Alex Louis Armstrong © Hiromu Arakawa / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 12: Fit as a Fiddle**

"Everything looks fine! Thanks, Brother!"

"I'm glad to hear that. Let's do the usual then."

"The usual?" I questioned.

"Yeah. Our teacher told us that to train the spirit, you must first train the body. So Al and I have mock battles frequently." Ed laughed. "But I've never beaten him once." 

"I see. Then I will cooperate!" The Major threw off his shirt and flexed his muscles.

Understandably, neither of the Elric brothers wanted to go up against the Strong Arm Alchemist. "No thank you," they said simultaneously.

Ed and Al got into their fighting stances. "Let's start!" The blond charged at Al, throwing punches left and right. The suit of armor blocked all of Ed's punches, grabbed his auto-mail, and threw him to the side. Ed flipped, landed on his feet, and came at Al once more.

Winry trudged to the door and observed their fight. "Hey! Don't be reckless with it and break it again!" Both brothers were too busy mock battling to take notice.

"Don't worry Winry. If anything happens, I'll take care of it! Go back to bed!" I called. The mechanic gave me a 'thumbs up'––too tired to do anything else––and plodded back upstairs.

Meanwhile, Al attempted to punch his older brother, but Ed evaded by rolling to the left. He kicked at Al, who seized the state alchemist by the right leg and flung him into the distance, effectively taking Ed out of the picture.

"Now I will fight you!"

"ACK!!!" Armstrong forcefully tackled the suit of armor, catching him by surprise.

Al charged at the Major, resulting in a stalemate. "Not good enough! You won't be able to move forward like this!" The Strong Arm Alchemist picked up Al as if he were nothing and threw him to the ground.

"Brother."

"Dammit!" Ed had managed to get back to the mock battlefield.

Armstrong questioned, "What's wrong? Is that it?"

"Kch!" Both Elric brothers launched themselves at the Major. Working as a team, Al locked into another stalemate with Armstrong, while Ed slid underneath to knock the legs from under him. This allowed Al to use the Major's momentum to flip him over. The Strong Arm Alchemist sailed through the air and landed on his back in slow motion––pink sparkles all around him––while Ed and Al celebrated the result of their teamwork.

Later that day, under the light of a fiery sunset, Ed––accompanied by his little brother and our escort––showed me the remnants of his home. Al walked around, remembering bits and pieces of a life he once had. "This was the front door and the living room. On cold days, we put firewood in the fireplace. Brother always slacked off when we had to chop wood."

Said elder brother smiled ruefully.

Shukaku refused to be ignored any longer. _I'm hungry dammit! Feed me! _A rumble disturbed the relative silence and I sighed. Whatever Ichibi wanted, he got........and in this case, he wanted food.

"I think someone's hungry." Ed teased. I shot him a black look, but he kissed me gently. I returned the smooch, and we meandered back to the Rockbell residence hand in hand. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The next morning~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You kids, come back here once in a while to eat with us." Pinako offered.

Ed grinned. "Sure, eventually."

"Thanks Baa-chan."

"Thank you for your help." The Major said respectfully.

"Winry, it was nice to meet you, and thank you so much for the auto-mail lessons."

The auto-mail mechanic glomped me out of the blue. "You're absolutely welcome! I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot––that was totally my fault––, but I'm glad we were able to smooth things out. You are the NICEST person I've ever met; you were able to forgive me even though I pretty much yelled at you."

"Yeah, well......." I scratched the back of my head, embarrassed.

"No, I'm serious! Anyways, I'll let you go. Take care of Ed and Al for me, and don't hesitate to call me if something goes wrong with the auto-mail. You're able to fix the small stuff, I know that much."

I snorted. " Oh, I don't have nearly as much skill as you do. I'm not a suitable substitute for you at ALL."

Winry suddenly remembered something. "You don't have any tools, do you? Hold on, lemme get you some." She raced back inside the house, and Ed gave me a weird look.

"...........What?"

"Nothing." He smiled.

The auto-mail mechanic came back, now holding a well-worn toolkit and slightly out of breath from her sprint. "Here ya go! This baby has everything a mechanic needs to make and repair auto-mail...........As you can see, it's served me well." She held it out to me, intending it as a gift.

"Winry...........You don't have to give me this."

"How else are you going to fix Ed's auto-mail?"

"Um, alchemy?"

Winry put her hands on her hips. "After all the time and hard work I just put in to teach you?! I think not!" She joked.

"It wasn't THAT hard to teach me, was it?" I inquired.

"Well........no. Now hurry up! You'll miss the train if you keep waiting around."

"And whose fault is that?!" Ed was slightly annoyed, for reasons unknown to me. He started tugging me away from the house and towards the distant train station. "C'mon, let's go."

Winry laughed and waved. "Have a good trip guys!"

"BYE!!!!" I waved back as Ed, Al, the Major, and I departed.

Ed gave me the same weird look he had given me a couple minutes prior. "So.........what's with you and Winry?"

"What about me and Winry?"

"Well, she all but hated you when we first got here, and now you guys are like best friends. What the hell happened?!"

I halted. "We talked. That's what happened."

"About what?"

"What is this, an interrogation?" I teased. "We talked about..........stuff. Winry requested that what was said between us stays between us. What does this tell you?"

Ed thought for a minute. "........To badger you until I get a proper answer?"

I imitated a buzzer, indicating that the blond had answered incorrectly. "Wrong! It tells you that you should respect our privacy and not ask about anything." Ed's mouth silently formed an 'o'.

"Come on guys! The sooner we catch the train, the sooner we can get back to Central!"

"We're coming Al!" To me he commented, "I'm not in any hurry to see Colonel Bastard."

We saw Armstrong turn around and approach us. "I'll have to carry you if you don't hurry up!"

"OK, OK, we're coming. Hold your horses." Evidently, Ed didn't want to repeat his being-carried-by-the-major experience.


	13. Got Nuffin

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Major Armstrong, Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross, the 2 librarians, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

Do I really need to continue putting disclaimers at the beginning of every chapter???

* * *

**Ch 13: Got Nuffin**

Ed sprinted out of the train as soon as it arrived at the station. He stopped to stretch. "We're finally at Central! All right, now let's head to the First Branch!" Full of energy, the fullmetal alchemist bolted off without bothering to check whether the rest of us were following him.

"Brother, wait up!"

"You don't need to hurry like that; the library won't run away!"

"We've finally gotten a hold of a reliable clue. I can't stay calm!"

I sighed inwardly, and sauntered after my boyfriend, who had come to a standstill. The reason? Two military officers stood at attention towards the end of the station.

The officer on the right spoke. "Major Armstrong, we've come to pick you up."

"Good job. I'll be heading to headquarters now. From here on, these two will escort you."

"What the hell?!" Ed exclaimed, more than a little miffed.

"I am Lieutenant Maria Ross." A relatively young woman with short, brown hair saluted. I noticed that she had a mole under her left eye.

Her partner––a man with short-ish dirty blond hair–– also saluted. "I am Sergeant Denny Brosh. We're honored to take this job, Fullmetal Alchemist, sir."

I observed, amusingly, that Brosh's last comment had been directed at Al. Meanwhile, Ed had sunk to the floor exuding doom-and-gloom, and hugging his knees, head in hands.

"Oh........this happens all the time, but........" The suit of armor pointed to his sulking older brother in the corner.

"I'm already used to it."

I sighed yet again. "Ed........" I knelt down beside my boyfriend and hugged him gently.

"What? Then the small one here is––" I looked at Brosh and shook my head in the negative, implying that he had said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Ed came out of his funk and made a scary face, startling the sergeant. "No, um....." I quickly kissed the blond before he could do anything worse as Brosh decided to rethink his words. "I wasn't expecting such a child!" I mentally face-palmed. _Great choice of words there, Sergeant._

Ed suddenly stood up and grabbed his suitcase, whacking me in the nose with it. "Forget it! Major, I don't need any bodyguards! Al, Marina, and I are perfectly fine no––you ok, Marina?" He knelt back down to check out the damage he had caused.

"Ow! Jeez Ed, watch where you swing that thing!" I felt the appendage to see if it was all right. My fingertips came away red, which meant that I had a bloody nose. "Great," I muttered. Shukaku was already on it; green chakra started to pool around my hands a millisecond later. I brought my hands up to my nose, and within a minute, it was as if the incident had never happened. The only thing that would tell an outsider otherwise was the small amount of dried blood on my fingers.

"Sorry Marina-chan! You know I didn't mean it." The blond kissed me gently, being careful to not cause any more damage. "Forgive me?"

"I'll think about it." I scowled, but returned the kiss.

The major cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on track. "I wouldn't mind if you guys were alone, but......."

Ross stated, "We've received information that Scar has reappeared here in Central. That's how it is. Just bear with it for a while." A couple of minutes passed, allowing us to digest that little piece of information. "Fullmetal Alchemist sir, just leave it to us." Ross and Brosh saluted once more.

"I hope you don't become a nuisance."

"Ed!" I rose to my feet and shot him an I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that look, which he ignored by walking away.

Turning to our new escorts, I bowed. "It's nice to meet you, Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh."

The Sergeant rushed after Ed. "Ah, there's a car waiting for you!"

Upon arriving at the library, we discovered that 1st branch had been destroyed in a conflagration, and that its contents had been all but burnt to a crisp. "You've GOT to be kidding me!" Ed picked up the remains of a book and it fell to pieces in his hands.

"Brother........."

"Our clue burned away........" Ed started to sink back into his funk.

Before he could sink any further, I suggested, "Let's go to Central Library and see if we can't find out any more information."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Twenty minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We've been looking since this morning, and these are the only books we were able to find." A man set two medium-sized, wooden boxes, somewhat full of books, on the table in front of us.

"They're in horrible condition," remarked Brosh.

"What do you expect? They were in a fire, after all." I stated, while Ed began to sift through them.

"We found no books written by Tim Marco in the main library. If it was moved from a branch, it should be in the records." A woman informed us.

The short blond stopped scrounging around in the boxes for a moment. "Is there.........a possibility that someone borrowed it?" he wanted to know.

"Yes, but the records of who borrowed what have been destroyed, so........."

"I see."

"Maybe it was just burned with the others." Al put forth.

"If only I––"

"We," I corrected.

Ed groaned in exasperation and started again. "If only WE could confirm if the book was really there or not............Who else worked there?"

"He and I are the only workers in the First Branch."

"Wait, what about Sheska?" I asked.

"............Who?"

I sighed for the third time that day. "A girl my age with short brown hair and big square-ish glasses."

"You mean the bookworm? Oh, she was fired a while ago."

"What for?"

The man answered my question. "She kept reading books during work."

I snickered softly. _That sounds exactly like something she would do. _"I see. Do you know if she still lives in the same place, or has she moved?"

"She's still in the same spot, as far as I know."

"Thank you so much!" I bowed, and we headed to the car. Our destination: the bookworm's house.


	14. Don't Dream It's Over

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross, Sheska, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

_**bold italics: - jutsu**_

* * *

**Ch 14: Don't Dream It's Over**

"Is she not here?" Brosh questioned, after having knocked on the door several times without a response.

Ed peered through a crack between the door and the wall. "The lights are on inside. Let's open it."

"No, you mustn't!" Lieutenant Ross blurted out, but the young state alchemist opened the door anyways. Doing so revealed a house filled to the brim with books.

"What are these mountains of books?!"

The sergeant was stupefied. "Does someone really live here?"

"Oi, Sheska!" I shouted. "Sheska?!"

A muffled "Help me!" came from under a pile of books somewhere in the vicinity, and I waded my way over to where I thought the bookworm's voice was coming from. I clapped my hands together in order to uncover Sheska by using alchemy, but she was extremely protective of her books. "Don't you DARE transmute my babies!"

"If you have enough air to yell like that, you're fine. I don't have to dig you out if I don't want to." I teased.

"Marina, when I get out of here, you and I are going to have a long talk."

"Yeah, yeah, but I have to get you out first."

The rest of the gang had inched over while I was talking with the former librarian, and Ed and Al started moving some texts around. "Don't worry, I've got it under control," I said.

"Sheska-san won't let you perform alchemy, so how are you going to dig her out by yourself?" the blond demanded.

"You'll see." I grinned and formed a cross-like seal with my hands. _**KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!**_ Once the giant cloud of smoke had dissipated, Ed saw seven Marinas in various places around the house.

His jaw dropped to the floor. "What the hell?!" While Ed was busy gawking, I gave my clones the go-ahead to begin liberating Sheska from her papery prison. Within minutes, she was free, and my clones vanished in 7 puffs of smoke shortly thereafter.

"Thank you so much! I accidentally knocked over one of my book stacks." She pointed an accusatory index finger at me. "You went and disappeared for a couple of days! Where were you?!"

"I was in the countryside with these two." I motioned in the Elric brothers' general direction. "Anyways, I––Ok, well, we––came here to ask if you saw anything written by a Tim Marco while you were working at First Branch."

"I think it's a really thick, hand-written research report," Ed added.

Sheska racked her brains for anything that remotely resembled Ed's description. "A really thick, hand-written research report......Tim Marco?" Suddenly, I saw the proverbial light bulb appear above her head. "Oh! Yes, I remember; handwritten, and on top of that, it was violently shoved onto a bookshelf of a different field."

A collective gasp was drawn. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. I remember all the books in the First Branch."

Ed's jaw dropped once more. "It really WAS there! Meaning, of course, that it was completely burned up after all." Both brothers started to exude doom-and-gloom.

"Did you want to read that manuscript?"

"That's right, but it was burned........" The blond began to exit the house.

Al was as polite as ever. "Thank you, and please pardon the intrusion."

"But I remember all of its contents....."

Ed and Al froze in their tracks for a moment, and shot back inside the house. "HUH?!"

"No––I mean––I remember all the contents of any book that I've read once. It'll take about four days, but shall I duplicate it?"

"THANK YOU BOOKWORM!!!"

_I'm a worm? _"Though I'm holding Marina hostage for that period of time."

"What?! Why?"

"I can't rewrite an entire manuscript all by my lonesome now can I?"

".............."

I gave my boyfriend a smooch. "It'll be fine. You can live without me for four days, right?"

"...................Right." He pouted and resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to see me at all for the next four days.

"I'll call you when we're done, OK?" I pushed Ed and Al out of Sheska's house, our escorts not far behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Four days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thanks for waiting! There was a lot to write, so that's why it took so long." Sheska and I proudly showed off the results of our work; a table piled high with typed reams of paper.

Ed stared at it. "This is Marco-san's research report? Are you guys sure?"

"Yep! It's Tim Marco's 1000 meals for daily living."

"Huh?" Ed, Al, Ross, and Brosh were flabbergasted.

Lieutenant Ross picked up a ream and began reading the first few lines out loud. "To a tablespoon of sugar, add a small amount of water..........It really is 1000 meals for daily living."

"Marina-chan, are you ABSOLUTELY positive this is what Marco wrote, word for word?"

"Yes, 150 percent positive."

"........You can't be more than one hundred percent positive, Marina."

"I can if I want to be." I stuck my tongue out at Ed.

"Anyways, thank you Sheska. All right, let's get these to the Central Library." The short blond looked at me, the replicated research document, and back at me.

"...........I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no."

"Awwwww, why not?"

"Because I'm plumb out of chakra, and Shukaku is too darn lazy. That's why not."

Ed kissed me gently. "Please?"

"No!"

"PLEASE???"

"I said no! Geez!" I returned the kiss and nudged him in the stomach with my elbow.

"Oh, a thank you, a thank you........" He retrieved a small notebook from his coat pocket, wrote a couple lines, and tore out the page concerned.

Looking over his shoulder, I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to give her that much?!"

"With the state alchemist organization paying me, I earn way more money than I can spend. Lieutenant Ross, this is my registry code and my silver watch as proof of my status." The female officer was given the watch and torn piece of paper............which were then entrusted to the Sergeant. "Withdraw that much from my yearly budget and hand it over to Sheska." Ed walked out, laden with typed reams of paper.

"It'll be fine if I go to the State Alchemists' office in the presidential prefecture, right?"

"That's right! Well then!" Ed waved good-bye and he, Al, and I took the manuscript to the Central Library.

"What's he planning to do with those books?" Brosh decided to see what his charge wrote down, and Sheska peered over his shoulder. "From research expenses........."

The bookworm freaked out at what she read. "What's with this amount of money?! To give up this sum just like that.........What kind of kid is he?!"


	15. Stepping Stone

I seem to be on a roll with these past few chapters. pray that Jashin doesn't decide to give me writer's block anytime soon.

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Shukaku, Sabaku no Gaara © Masashi Kishimoto / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 15: Stepping Stone**

Ross chased us down and ran in front of us, effectively blocking our way with arms spread wide open. "Please wait! Where are you going?"

"We're going to stay in the Central Library for a while, since that place is filled with information and dictionaries." Ed explained.

_Well, DUH! Isn't that the whole point of a library?_ The tanuki tailed beast commented, rolling those big eyes of his.

_Quiet you. I have a feeling this is an important conversation, and I'd like to pay attention to it, thank you very much._

"What? We still don't know Scar's whereabouts. We can't guard you in a place with so much traffic!" The female lieutenant clearly objected to her charge's plan.

Ed's voice rose, indicating his displeasure at being limited. "Then report it to your superiors! This is our problem." He walked straight past our escort.

I groaned. _Ed, why do you have to be so hot-headed?!_

Al followed his older brother, but stopped to talk to Ross for an instant. "This is a clue we've been seeking for a long time. We're sorry."

I bowed towards Ross. "Lieutenant, please don't hold this against Ed. He just wants to get as much done in as little time as possible, damn the consequences."

"Marina, are you coming?!" my boyfriend shouted.

"Yeah, in a minute! Just go ahead and I'll catch up!" To Ross I said, "I really appreciate all the hard work that you and Sergeant Brosh are doing. Well, all three of us do, though one doesn't show it outright. I know it's not the easiest job in the world to essentially baby-sit a couple of teenagers, but.........."

The Lieutenant suddenly pulled me into a bear hug. "I just want to keep you guys safe. That's all."

My eyes widened at the sudden show of affection. "I know. You're doing a fine job Lieutenant."

"Just Ross is fine. I know that we're supposed to keep our personal lives separate from work, but if you ever need anyone to talk to, feel free to come find me," she offered.

"Thank you Ross!" I returned the hug.

_Awwwww, how touching! _Shukaku remarked wryly while Inner Me made a face.

Ross and I eventually caught up with the Elric brothers and Sergeant Brosh in one of the rooms in Central Library. When Ross opened the door, the sergeant was in the middle of asking Ed, "Is this kind of cookbook really an alchemy research manuscri––" All three of them looked up, and Brosh interrupted himself. "There you guys are! We were wondering what happened!" he exclaimed.

I noticed Ed warily eyeing the Lieutenant and quickly kissed my boyfriend. "It's all right. We came to an understanding of sorts."

".............." He said nothing in response, but kissed me back. "To answer your unfinished question Brosh; if you misuse alchemy, it's a dangerous art. With the aim of preventing that," he held up a ream of paper, "this is an encryption of alchemic research. Even though it looks like a mere cookbook to a normal person, its contents are understood only by the one who wrote them. That means it's an advanced, coded alchemy text."

"When you say 'understood only by the one who wrote them,' how are you going to decipher something like that?"

"With knowledge and insight. After all, they say that alchemy was born from the kitchen. It'll be a cinch if I work on it!" Ed took a closer look at the manuscript. "Al, there's a section on cooking doves."

"Doves? By that, could it mean––?"

"Yeah. The Green Lion. It might be the Philosopher's Moon. Did you bring Flanmel's manuscript or something about Ramzpring's Philosopher's Stone?"

"Of course!"

"Alright, let's do this."

"The what? Who?" My questions went unheard, as Ed and Al immersed themselves in their research.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A few hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A rumble suddenly cut through the moderate quietness in the room and I glared at my stomach.

Shukaku let out a childish giggle. _Heehee!_

_Ichibi........._ I warned.

_Hey, I've been stuck behind bars for at least 17 years! Would you deny a prisoner his entertainment? _If I was able to make out his features, I would bet that the bijuu was sporting a moue.

_Yes, yes I would. And what are you talking about? You had your little moment of freedom when Gaara let you out during the Chuunin Exams!_

I saw a giant tongue protrude from the darkness. _You're a horrible jinchuuriki, Marina._

Grinning maniacally I countered, _Oh, you have no idea. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the real world now, kthnxbai._

"Hey guys, I'm going to get something to eat. Do you want me to bring you back anything?" The only sound that reached my ears was the scratching of Ed's pen as he furiously scribbled something down. "Edward, if you don't give me an answer in the next couple of seconds, I'm bringing back milk for you, and that's final."

He finally looked away from his notes. "What was that Marina?"

I rolled my eyes. _Why do I even bother?_ "I'm going to try to make my stomach happy by giving it food. Do you want anything while I'm gone?"

"Just water is fine, thanks." With that, Ed resumed his attempts to crack Marco's code.

"M'kay then." As I exited the room, I noticed that our escorts had positioned themselves on either side of the door.

"Marina?" Ross questioned, clearly confused as to why I was separating myself from her other charges.

"I'm gonna get some food for me and Ed. Would you like anything?"

"No thank you."

"What about Brosh?"

The lieutenant glanced at her partner and noticed that he had fallen asleep. "........I think he's fine for the time being."

"All right. I shall be back in a few."


	16. No Rain No Rainbow

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross, Lieutenant Hughes, Sheska, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 16: No Rain No Rainbow**

Returning to the library, I found Ed and Al chatting with Elysia's obsessive father.

"What's up? I thought I told you to get in touch with me the next time you guys were in Central!"

"Well, we had urgent business........" Ed scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

I hugged the state alchemist from behind. "You liar!" I teased. "It wasn't that urgent!"

"Marina-chan, you're back!" He gave me a smooch.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes." Said officer turned around to find that Ross had marched into the room. "We will not be able to protect these three at this location if there is an emergency."

"I told you to leave us alone!"

"Ed..............." Smacking my boyfriend upside the head began to sound like an attractive plan of action.

"As long as we don't know where Scar is, we should reexamine security procedures."

Hughes crossed his arms. "Lieutenant Ross is right."

"Lieutenant Colonel......." Ed was dismayed at Hughes' seeming betrayal.

"But I can't do it at my own discretion. You should ask Major Armstron––"

"No! Please, not that person!" Ed and Ross exclaimed in unison.

The female lieutenant cleared her throat while Ed begged, "Lieutenant Colonel, we're really close here. Please."

Hughes sighed. "We can't do much because of the Scar incident. On top of that, all the case records were destroyed, so we can't work, even if we want to."

"Case records? Those were in the branch as well?"

"Yeah. All the testimony records and name lists were there."

Ed and I looked at each other and nodded. "Lieutenant Colonel........."

About twenty minutes later, we were all back at the bookworm's house. "What?! Me?! I've read police records and suspect listings before........"

"See? Now you'll be fine." Ed told Hughes.

"Well, if what you're saying is true, it'll help us a lot."

I added, "We all recommend her. Now's your chance to hire her."

"The only thing I can do is read books, and they want me at the court-martial office?"

"It's not as stupid as you think it is. The fact that you are able to give something your all is a talent in and of itself," I chided. "You have an incredible memory and should be more confident about yourself."

Sheska turned to me. "Thank you Marina. I will work my hardest! I accept the job!" She bowed to Hughes.

"Okay! Now that it's decided, let's get this thing official! Our place pays well," the Lieutenant Colonel joked. Ed looked at Hughes with a weird expression on his face. "Fine. For library security, I'll send out some people from the court-martial office."

"What? Thank you. I never intended that." Hughes was not fooled in the slightest.

"What did you mean, 'the fact that you are able to give something your all is a talent in and of itself'? You have a way with words, Marina-chan." We were now, once again, at Central Library.

I gazed at Ed and smiled. "When I'm looking at a certain someone, I feel in my heart that that's the truth."

"Well, that certain someone is going to keep giving it his all, without a break!" He kissed me gently.

"Breaks aren't a bad idea once in a while............."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Insert number of days* later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why is this so difficult! We've been at this for days, and we haven't gotten anywhere!" Ed complained.

"Ed, I'm sorry."

"What are _you_ sorry for? _You_ haven't been the one spending hours and hours in this blasted library! _You_ haven't experienced the hardships that Al and I have gone through to find the philosopher's stone!"

I flinched as each word pierced me like a bullet. My eyes welled up with tears and I burst out of the room. "Marina, what happened?!" Lieutenant Ross asked with alarm.

"If either Ed or Al ask for me, I'll be at Lieutenant Hawkeye's." I ran out of the library to call a cab.

"Brother, you idiot! I know you're tired and frustrated, but there's no reason to take it out on Marina."

"I realize that NOW! I'm sorry Al."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to her. If you run, I think you might be able to catch her before she disappears. I'll continue deciphering these notes."

"Thanks Al!" The alchemist ran after me, fervently hoping that I hadn't already disappeared.

He grabbed my wrist as I was about to run down the steps, and pulled me into a tight embrace. I struggled to get away, tears streaming down my face. "Let me go, let me GO!" The harder I struggled, the tighter he held me. I eventually gave up, but continued crying. The blond sighed and whispered, "I'm sorry Marina. I realize that I was frustrated, and I didn't mean to take it out on you. Please forgive me."

I pursed my lips, closed my eyes and turned my head away from him. "I-I don't know if I can, Ed……..Your words hurt more than you can imagine." The sky began to mirror my emotions, turning cloudy and dark.  
"Marina-chan, please forgive me. I beg you to forgive me." Ed raised my chin with a gloved index finger and kissed me softly. "Please." He gave me a series of kisses, each more passionate than the last, as if trying to convey the fact that he wanted me, _needed_ me.

We stood in the front of the library, making out in the rain. When we finally separated for air, I found myself against a wall. Ed gently clapped his hands together and created an overhang to protect us from the pouring rain. At some point, we switched positions; I leaned against Ed, Ed leaned against the wall. I was content to lie in my boyfriends' arms, listening to the soothing sound of the rain. I sniffled a couple times. "All right, let's dry those tears now." The alchemist gently wiped away the tears stubbornly residing on my cheeks.

"Ed, I think it's time we went back to the library. Ross and Al must be worried."


	17. Thoughts and Words

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 17: Thoughts and Words**

We returned to the room, hands entwined. Neither Ross nor Al said anything, though Ross raised an eyebrow at how soaked we had gotten. Ed attacked Marcoh's notes with renewed vigor and I smiled in amusement. I started inching my way out of the room. "It looks like I'm not much help here, so I'm just gonna––" One of Ed's arms snaked around my waist and suddenly tugged me into his lap.

"Oh no you don't! You're gonna stay right here, Missy!" I pouted playfully and the short blond kissed me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Several hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh, I desperately need a break." Ed stretched his arms and pulled me out of the room, leaving Al to think, _What does Marina have to do with Brother's break???_ We zigzagged through the library until we found an empty room.

"Ed, what's going o––" He silenced me with a kiss, and we made out in the vacant library room. We eventually broke apart from lack of air and Ed nuzzled the crook of my neck. "Mmmmm, Ed……." _Myth: Ed is a raging ball of hormones at age 15...........confirmed._

We came back a few minutes later. However, Ed kept coming up with excuses to shirk work and make out with me in various corners of the library. In the middle of one of these 'breaks'––I lost count after four or five––I turned my head away so Ed only kissed my cheek. I looked at him pointedly. "Ed, as much as I'm enjoying these make out sessions, we have to get those notes deciphered. You want to find the philosopher's stone, do you not?"

"Yeah, but we're almost done with them! We can afford to kill ti––" I mock glared at him and he put his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay, we'll go back and finish them." He let me drag him back to the room we had been in……...to find Al distraught.

"No.......no, that can't be right! Brother, can you check my notes?"

Ed double-checked and sank to the floor in despair, papers settling around him. "The devil's research, things that shouldn't be sought after. These are bitter things Dr. Marcoh."

"Ed? What's wrong?" I questioned.

".........You don't want to know, and I don't want to be the one to tell you."

I sighed. "C'mon, I've been with you through a lot, and whatever's troubling you at the moment isn't going to stop me now." I knelt down beside the state alchemist and embraced him gently. In doing so, I happened to catch a glance at one of the papers, and I inhaled sharply. The few lines I read were a wake up call. "The raw material for the Philosopher's Stone is living people! Ed........." I hugged Ed tighter.

"You probably hate me for researching the Philosopher's Stone, despite knowing the price to be paid."

"Edward, I love you and will support you no matter what choice you decide to make, whether it be to research another method of getting your body back, or even to pursue making the Stone." I smiled elegiacally and rested my forehead on his shoulder.

Al began to pick up the scattered notes off the floor. "Brother, let's look at it again from the beginning."

"We've looked at it enough." Ed curled himself into a ball while I was still hugging him.

Al persisted, "But there's a chance that we misread something. Maybe we got it wrong."

"I said I've had enough."

"But what if our code's wrong? Maybe that's not what it says, or maybe we missed some key paragraph, like a loophole or something." The suit of armor offered the collected stack of papers to his older brother. "We should read the whole thing again."

"I said ENOUGH!" Ed suddenly lashed out, hitting me in the nose with his auto-mail arm quite hard. There was an audible crack, I flinched, and his eyes widened in shock at what he had just done. Papers fluttered to the ground once more as Al let go of them in surprise. "Marina, I'm so sorry! It's broken, isn't it?" His question referred to the hurt appendage.

"Y-yeah, I think so. I'm OK, don't worry about it." I laughed shakily. "Haha, this is the second time you've hit my poor nose. What have you got against it, Ed?"

"Something, apparently." He gave me a half-smile and kissed me gently. "Does it hurt? Do you want me to go get you some bandages?" I shook my head in the negative then winced at the pain brought on by the action. "OK, bandages it is then."

The blond was about to get up when our escorts burst into the room, startling the three of us. "Is something wrong?" Ross stared at the amount of blood on the floor, and then at me gingerly pinching my nose, face tilted towards the ceiling. She sighed. "Not again, Marina............"

"Yeah, it happened again." My voice sounded weird, but that was probably because my nose was covered. Brosh couldn't hold in his amusement and snickered. Ross and I both shot him glares. Healing chakra pooled around my hands, and my unfortunate schnoz recovered from the trauma it experienced a few seconds ago.

"Is something wrong?" the female lieutenant reiterated.

"No, it's fine. Go back in the hall. Sorry Marina-chan."

"It's all right." I let go of my nose and gave the sullen blond a smooch.

Ross, however, refused to move. She started gathering up the fallen papers. "So Ed, that's really the end of it?" We all looked at the Lieutenant in astonishment. "You won't regret it then, giving up before you're finished?" Once done collecting the papers on the floor, she moved to the table and continued, "That's interesting. I didn't realize that what you were searching for was so incidental, you'd abandon it this easily."

"Stop going on like you know what you're talking about. You don't know anything." Ed was back in his funk.

Ross finished picking up the papers. "Wrong Ed. I know that what you guys have been searching for is the Philosopher's Stone, and I know it's created by sacrificing human lives." Both brothers gasped at the Lieutenant's statement. "I know it was uncalled for, but I was listening through the door."

"Well, if you eavesdropped, then you must know; it's pointless to chase after it now. Leave us alone."

"You really are a child, aren't you." Ed growled at this, vexed. "You're frightened of it, that all the answers will disappear. You're terrified you might have to admit that everything you've done was wasted effort. Am I wrong?"

The blond buried his face into my shoulder and I hugged him gently. "Ross!" I hissed, "your comments are a little on the harsh side!" To Ed I said, "It's OK to feel lost and not have reasons."

The Lieutenant softened her approach. "Verifying whether Marco's research is the truth or not is worth something in itself, if you ask me. After all, what you're looking for is a lot bigger than you, Al, or Marina." She handed the collected papers to me.

I added, "Why don't you try searching a little longer, but without worries about the final result?"

"Thank you Marina-chan, Lieutenant Ross!" Ed gave me a passionate smooch and reclaimed the notes he had written. "We've had roadblocks and we've conquered them all. I'll be damned if we stop halfway! We'll take this all the way to the finish! Let's do this!" I grinned at his newfound enthusiasm.


	18. Say Whut?

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross, Lust, Envy, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 18: Say Whut?**

"Well, I'm glad you've had a change of heart, but since I'm practically dead on my feet I'm gonna go take a nap." A yawn emphasized my point.

"All right then. Come down when you wake up, okay?"

"Yep. Will do." I staggered up the stairs to one of the library's motel-like rooms and closed the door. Flipping on the light, I discovered two people sitting on the bed. One was a woman wearing a green, sleeveless dress, and the other was the palm tree impressionist, Envy. Before I could do anything, Envy blindfolded me, gagged me with a piece of cloth, and knocked me out.

Downstairs, Ed, Al, Ross, and Brosh were discussing Marco's research. Since Ross and Brosh now knew about it, they may as well be included in the conversation. "His research is sound in theory, but even with the inclusion of humans in the forging process, it still never made a perfect Philosopher's Stone."

"So there still might be other methods," Al commented.

"Right, but let's check his method first. I want to see the truth of it with my own eyes.........Wait a minute, truth!" Ed opened the note we had received from Dr. Marco ages ago. "......bottom of the page, like an afterthought."

"You still have that thing?! I thought you threw it away."

Ed continued to ruminate, unaware of his brother's exclamation. "The genuine truth behind truth........of course! He was saying there's still something more!" Brosh laid out a map of Central on the table while the blond continued talking. "According to his data, it takes huge refining equipment to create a Stone. You'd need a massive facility, like a whole complex."

"Well, there are currently four alchemic laboratories running under the military's watch. They're all pretty big..........I know that Dr. Marco was assigned here, at the third lab." The Sergeant pointed at its location on the map.

"No, I already went to all four labs in the city, and there wasn't anything remarkable going on; just a lot of fast-talking bureaucrats."

"Hey, what about this?" Al pointed at something in another area of the map. It was labeled '5th Laboratory'.

"Oh right. There used to be a fifth lab, but they closed it down years ago. It's just an abandoned building now. Apparently there were structural problems, so they made it off limits."

"That's it," Ed declared.

"Eh? What makes you say that?"

"There's a prison next door."

"What about it?" Brosh inquired.

"What was the raw material for the Philosopher's Stone?"

The sergeant thought for a couple of seconds. "Uh, living humans......." He started at his realization.

"There are inmates on death row at this prison, right? So they make it seem as if they've executed them....."

Ross turned pale. "It couldn't be, using prisoners as raw material......."

"Don't make that face! We don't want to think about it either!"

"What now, Brother?" Al asked.

"There's no choice. What do you say we go check out Lab 5 ourselves?"

"Sure."

Ross stood up, annoyed. "Now hold on a minute! From here out, this is grown-ups work. Besides, as long as Scar is loose, you're a walking target. You can't afford to stroll around Central!"

"Yeah? So what?" Ed challenged.

"Let Brosh and me be your eyes on the ground. If we see anything, we'll give you a full report. It's our duty." Ross bowed.

"She has a point," Al acknowledged.

Ed sighed. "All right, I clearly can't argue with you. You guys can take care of it."

"Sir, it's the right choice!" The Lieutenant saluted. "I should probably inform Marina of the new developments."

"Nah, lemme go."

Concerned, Ed went to go check up on me. He knocked on the door. "Marina?" Nothing. He knocked again, harder. "Marina-chan?" Still nothing. Panicking, he transmuted the door open and looked around. I was nowhere to be found, and the only things moving were the curtains, thanks to an open window. His eye caught a note etched into the wall. "Bring the Philosopher's Stone to Laboratory 5 if you want your girlfriend to stay unhurt." He tore down the stairs like a whirlwind. "Al hurry up, we're heading to Lab 5!"

I woke up to the feel of cold––very cold––concrete. My blindfold was ripped off, brutally exposing my eyes to bright light, and the rag was taken out of my mouth. Wiggling a bit, I found that my hands and legs were tied. "Ed! Edward! EDWARD!!!"

"Scream all you want, the Fullmetal Bean isn't going to hear you. He won't even find this place."

"That's where you're wrong. Ed will find me, I _know_ he will."

"Insolence!" Envy smacked me across the face and we glared at each other.

The woman wearing the green dress came out of the shadows, and I noticed the mark of the Ouroborous in the middle of her chest. "Envy, try to keep the violence to a minimum."

"But I can do anything else with her, right Lust nee-chan?"

"Yes, minus the––"

"Minus the violence. Yeah, yeah, I hear ya. " Envy rolled his eyes. "Now can you give us some _alone _time?" The green haired homunculus leered at me. The woman rolled _her _eyes and left the room, her destination unknown to me.

Ed and Al snuck out of the library and made their way to the fifth research center. They jumped the fence, found the main entrance to be locked, and discovered that the only way to get in was via a small furnace duct. Standing on top of Al's shoulders, Ed managed to climb in. "Are you going to be all right?" Al asked.

"All right or not, you'd never make it through here with your huge frame. Sit tight, I'll be back in a minute." With that, the blond disappeared into the building.

The suit of armor curled up in a ball, depressed. "It's not like I'm big because I like it that way!" he sulked.

The Fullmetal Alchemist crawled through the vent while musing about his position. "Dammit, this is smaller than I thought! See, if I was normal sized, I wouldn't have fit, and we would have had to call this off. It really IS a good thing I'm so small!" He paused, realizing what he just said. "AHHHH, NO IT'S NOT!!!" Ed kicked a grate open, and dropped to the floor in a crouch. He then inspected his surroundings. "Lights are still on. How do they explain that one? They say they don't use this place anymore." Turning a corner, the state alchemist stepped on a stone slab that sank into the floor. _Oh crap._


	19. The Great Defector

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Lust, Envy, Number 48 (Slicer the Homicide), etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 19: The Great Defector**

Long, sharp, metal spikes protruded from the ceiling, hung for a second............and fell. "AH!!" Ed barely avoided them by leaping––and falling––to where he first landed. "That was fast!" As he was about to get up, his left hand pressed on another square stone tile. This time, an enormous axe hidden in the wall revealed itself to the blond by attempting to slice him in half. "AHH!!!" While dodging the Giant Axe of Doom, Ed let off yet another trap. Metal darts were then shot at the alchemist, and he barely escaped a pit full of spikes shortly thereafter.

Ed climbed out of the hole and chuckled. "For them to go to all this trouble, they must have something here they really don't want to be seen. I'm getting excited; I just love being right!" He accidentally pressed one more stone slab and his eyes widened in apprehension. _ What now?! _A distant rumbling could be heard and the blond slowly turned around, fearing for his life. The rumbling got louder as whatever was making it got closer. Ed stood up, ready for anything. Suddenly, a colossal stone sphere rolled into view.

"AHHHHH!!!!!" Ed ran like mad down the unfortunately straight hallway, but the boulder gained on him bit by bit. "You know, this rock is sure persistent!" He accidentally tripped on a rock that lay conveniently in the middle of the corridor, and rolled to the side, pressing his body against the wall. The giant ball rolled right by. Once it had passed, Ed was grateful for his small stature. "See? And all this time I thought being normal-sized would be a good thing. Dammit, enough is enough!" He clapped his hands together and the trap-filled hallway was transformed into a simple, concrete corridor.

"Fullmetal Boy!" The woman in the green dress appeared behind Ed and approached him.

Ed quickly turned around, immediately on guard. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"You can call me Lust. We can talk about what I want on the way." The woman known as Lust began to run down the long hall. She stopped when she noticed that the short teen wasn't following. "Come on! Your girlfriend is going to get it if you don't hurry up!"

Ed then sprinted after the homunculus. "I thought you said she wasn't going to be hurt!"

"Yeah, well............Envy does his own thing, so I couldn't really get him to promise me anything. It's my fault. I'm sorry." Lust apologized.

"So……….why are you helping me?"

"Long story short; Dante, the person I work for, is a bitch. She says she's going to make us homunculi human if we get her the Philosopher's Stone, but I know that's bull."

"And you're hoping I'll make you human if I get the philosopher's stone?"

"I'm willing to take that chance, yes." They arrived a locked door, which didn't last long thanks to Lust's sharp nails. Entering the room, they found me pinned between Envy and the floor, my shirt hanging off my shoulders and my hair disheveled. I was breathing heavily, and Envy had a sadistic look on his face.

"Hey Lust, I thought the fullmetal bean couldn't find his way her––" Envy got off me and turned around. "Well well, what do we have here? A traitor, huh?"

I used this distraction to run to Ed, who covered me with his red coat. "Are you OK?" I shook my head, buried my head in Ed's chest, and hugged him as if I was afraid he was going to disappear. He hugged me back for a moment then stepped in front of me protectively. Lust extended her nails into deadly spears, walked up to Envy, and held him at nail-point.

She told Ed, "I'll deal with this shape-shifter. You guys get out of here!"

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll catch up later." Ed nodded and ran out, pulling me along with him.

"Dante's not going to like this," Envy stated in a singsong voice.

"Like I care what that old bag thinks!" Lust swiped her hand to the left, decapitating Envy. His head re-grew and he chuckled.

"No matter how many times you do that, I'm not going to die. You know that."

"I don't care how many times I have to kill you. I'm just buying time." She cut through a column on her right, compromising the building's structure. Lab 5 started to shake and crumble.

Meanwhile, Ed and I were running around trying to find an exit. "We keep coming back to where we started!"

"Let's try going left then." Going left took us into a large room with a giant, complicated transmutation circle drawn on the floor.

"What the heck is this? Could it be what's used to transmute philosopher's stones?"

"Precisely. I don't know who you are, but I'm amazed you figured that out by just looking at the transmutation circle, boy." A suit of armor brandishing a sword approached us out of the shadows.

Ed glared. "Who are you, old man?"

"My duty is to guard this area. I suppose I'll introduce myself as Number 48. And I'm not an old man either. I've been instructed to eliminate any outsiders who have infiltrated the building. Don't think badly of me, boy."

"Same goes for you." The blond created a blade out of his auto-mail arm with alchemy. "Don't take it too badly when you get beaten by a boy."

"An alchemist huh? Let's see how good you are." Number 48 materialized in front of Ed, crossing a good amount of distance in an instant. Ed's eyes widened and he ducked, avoiding a deadly swing of 48's blade.

The watchman charged and swung again. Sparks flew as his sword came in contact with Ed's auto-mail. The alchemist fended him off and lunged, side-kicking 48 back while dodging another lethal swing of his sword. I saw a light bulb appear over Ed's head. "Oi, oi, oi! Do you not have a body in there?"

"I'm amazed you noticed." _Did someone press the pause button on this fight? _ I wondered.

"I spar with someone like you all the time."

"Ah, so there's someone in this state in the outside world too, eh? Let me introduce myself again. 48 was my death row number. When I still had my body, I was called Slicer the Homicide."

"Death row, just as I thought. Hey, this place makes philosopher's stones out of criminals on death row, right?"

"That I cannot answer. I was simply hired for my skills, given this body, and stationed here as a watchdog."

"Which means there's a seal somewhere that mediates the soul and the armor."

"Precisely." 48 lifted his helmet to show Ed a blood seal on the back. "This seal of blood........If you destroy it, you win."

_Yes, someone *coughjashin-samacough* decided to press the pause button. Ah well._ "You're awfully kind to let us in on your weakness!" I hollered.

"I'm the type that seeks thrills in fighting."

"Since you're so kind, want to let us off the hook? Was that worth a try?" Ed asked with a sly expression on his face.

48 put his helmet back on and gripped his sword tightly. "Do you really think a murderer is just going to let his prey get away?"

* * *

I can't write fight scenes to save my life. ^^; I hope they're at least somewhat acceptable?


	20. I Feel A Change Comin' On

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, 48 (helmet and body), etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Shukaku, Lady Tsunade © Masashi Kishimoto / Marina, Araphon © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

_**bold italics: - jutsu**_

* * *

**Ch 20: I Feel a Change Comin' On**

The alchemist and former death row inmate charged at each other once more. Sparks flew again as one countered the other. Ed paused for a millisecond. _Huh? Something doesn't feel right in my shoulder......._ 48 took this opportunity to swipe at the blonds head, who ducked just in time. The result was such that the watchman merely gave Ed's bangs a trim.

Immediately, Ed retreated. _If I don't settle this quickly, I'm in trouble!_ He charged another time, locked into a stalemate with 48, and was kicked to the ground. The empty suit of armor approached slowly and attempted to stab the fallen alchemist, but Ed nimbly bounded away. However, he did not escape unscathed; 48 managed to score a gash on the alchemist's left shoulder. 48 backed Ed up until his back hit a square column. Swiping at Ed's head didn't work because he evaded and rolled to the left. The watchman stabbed once again, which Ed dodged......and proceeded to fall on his rear from exhaustion.

"Ed!" I sprinted over to my boyfriend, already calling up green chakra to heal his wound. I knelt beside him with my back facing Number 48.

"You've left yourself open, girlie." He attempted to behead me, and I ducked while still treating Ed.

"Don't you DARE lay a finger on Marina!" With a surge of energy, Ed launched himself at Number 48 and knocked off his helmet. The short blond returned his auto-mail arm to normal and advanced towards the helmet.

"What's wrong? My blood seal isn't broken yet. Just hurry up and destr––nuh?"

Ed picked up 48's head so they could see eye to eye. "There's something I want to ask you."

"About the philosopher's stone?"

"Spill everything you know," Ed demanded.

"No can do."

"Hey now, the loser shouldn't be putting on a brave front."

"I.........haven't lost yet." 48's body suddenly appeared behind Ed, ready to strike.

Forming a seal with my hands, I materialized between them and deflected a lethal sword stab with a transmuted kunai. "Marina, what are you doing?! I won't let you put yourself in harm's way!"

"Ahem, who was the one who managed to injure Scar way back in chapter 7? Yeah, I believe that would be me. Don't underestimate me, Fullmetal."

_Am I being ignored?! _The helmet decided to divulge, "I forgot to mention that Slicer the Homicide......"

"......Was actually a duo of brothers." The body finished. "Let's go for round two." He lunged at Ed, but I blocked him again.

"Hey, hey, your opponent is me!"

"What?! I'm facing off against a girl? Laaame!"

"Don't you underestimate me either!" I bit the tip of my left thumb, drawing blood. My hands then flew through 5 seals, and I slammed my left palm on the ground. _**KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!**_ A cloud of smoke appeared and dissipated. In place of the smoke was.............a common house sparrow.  
The body sweat-dropped. "That's supposed to help you.........how?"

Saluting with his right wing, the sparrow greeted me. "Yo! Long time, no see Marina!"

"What the hell, it talks?!" Ed's jaw dropped.

The bird in question turned to address the surprised alchemist. "HE, not it, thank you." He further astounded Ed by transforming into a red-tailed hawk, and flew around the room to explore. Once done, he alighted on my left forearm, which I held out in front of me horizontally. The hawk cocked his head to the side and peered at me owlishly. "..........We're not in Konoha, are we?" This was uttered as a statement, despite the question mark at the end of his sentence.

"Um, no."

"All right then." I could tell he wasn't entirely satisfied with my answer, but he moved on to more pressing matters. "What's the sitch? What are we up against?"

"We are up against an empty suit of armor, so regular jutsu won't work," I informed my summon.

"I see. What's your plan then?"

"I was thinking of using Rasens––"

The red-tailed hawk looked straight at me. "No. Absolutely not. I see where you're going with this, and I will not allow it. The fifth forbade usage of that jutsu! You know this, and still want to use it?!"

"Hey, if it lets us get out of here alive then yes, why not?"

"If Tsunade-sama finds out about this, she's going to have our heads!"

"What she doesn't know won't kill her."

"Marina, I'm serious! If you use it, you might not be able to perform jutsu ever again," the hawk warned.

"Um, Marina-chan?"

"Yes Ed?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but who exactly is that?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the introductions." The alchemist sweat-dropped. "Ed, this is my summon Araphon. Araphon, this is Edward Elric, my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you Edward." Araphon stuck out a wing for the blond to shake.

Ed raised an eyebrow. ".....Likewise?" He gingerly shook my summons wing. _I'm talking to a bird. I must be out of my mind._

"Are we done chit-chatting now?" The suit of armor questioned, reminding me why I had summoned Araphon in the first place.

"All right Araphon, let's do this." My summon leapt off of his perch as a hawk and landed on the ground as a small, brown anole lizard. I formed a cross-like seal with my hands. _**KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! **_

Two Marinas appeared––one on each side of the original––and Araphon scurried over to 48's body unnoticed by the former death row inmates. Upon arriving at his destination, the anole suddenly transformed into a lion. He grinned a predatory grin, baring his long canines. "Boo." The suit of armor stepped to the left and then to the right, testing his limits. Araphon immediately mirrored his movements, the two performing a weird dance as 48's body attempted to slip past the lion.

Meanwhile, I was some distance away, trying to figure out how Konoha's #1 Noisy Ninja managed to create the S-ranked jutsu.

_Shukaku, I'm gonna need all the chakra you can give me._

_Do you even know how to do it?_

_Um...........it's like a rasengan, but bigger............right?_

The tanuki tailed beast face-palmed. _No duh. Sarcasm aside, yes: start by making a regular rasengan, and I'll keep adding chakra until you say when._ I nodded and a swirling sphere of chakra took shape in my left palm.


	21. Rehumanize Yourself

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, 48 (helmet and body), etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto / Marina, Araphon © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

_**bold italics: - jutsu**_

* * *

**Ch 21: Rehumanize Yourself**

The purple mass of chakra gradually increased in size until the center was about as big as a nectarine, emitting a high-pitched screech as it spun faster and faster. My two clones, meanwhile, made sure the jutsu didn't go off prematurely. _M'kay Shukaku, that's plenty of chakra. Thank you._

_Welcome. _Finally deeming the jutsu complete, I held my left hand above my head, holding a giant, white shuriken. _**FUUTON: RASENSHURIKEN!**_

Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation along my left arm. It was as if my skin was blackening and curling away from the intense heat of the jutsu. My brow knitted in concern as my breath came out in ragged gasps. _What's going on?_

From his cage, an alarmed Shukaku hollered, _Marina, get rid of it! Now! _

My eyes widened._ How?!_

_Throw it, disperse it, I don't care. Just do it before all your chakra pathways are severed! _The tanuki bijuu was clearly perturbed, restlessly pacing back and forth in his cage with his hackles raised high. I managed to sling the Rasenshuriken at 48's body, the suit of armor exploding in two as it made contact.

"Araphon? You still around?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I got away just before the jutsu hit." The lion padded over to my side and gently nudged my injured hand with his muzzle. Reason told me that if I looked down, I would find a blackened stump in place of my hand. Luckily for me, Reason was wrong. _Who was this 'Reason' anyways?_, I wondered. When I braved a glance, all I found was a normal hand, albeit with a couple broken fingers.

"You've gone and done it now, brat!" Out of the blue, the top half of 48's body started to wave his arms around, freaking Ed out.

"Oh, shut up and rust!" the blond spat.

"It's shameful, but we lost," the helmet admitted.

Ed gingerly prodded the lower half of 48's body with the tip of his boot. "There, uh, wouldn't happen to be a third brother, would there?"

Both brothers answered, "No."

"Just destroy us." This was directed at the alchemist.

"Spare me from having to murder someone." Said alchemist sighed and slumped to the ground.

"You consider us human?"

Ed explained his reasoning. "If I didn't accept you two as human, it would mean I'm doing the same to my brother too. My little brother is human, and so are you two. That's why I don't want to kill you."

The helmet began to laugh derisively. "Us two have been stealing, destroying, and murdering ever since we came of age, and we're being treated as humans for the first time, after being turned into this? Interesting."

We all felt the floor shake beneath us and I steadied myself against Araphon's back, grimacing at the pain from my broken fingers. "That felt just like an earthquake. What was it?"

"Good question."

"Just finish us off. Get it over with," the top half of 48's body urged.

"I already told you; I'm not killing anybody! Period!"

"You're the one who said we're human, right? Well, in that case, help me. How'm I supposed to keep on living as scattered scraps of metal?" came the riposte.

"Well, um........" Ed walked over to 48's helmet and held it towards the body with an awkward smile.

The upper half of the body managed to right itself, scuttling away from the blond on its hands. "Don't connect us! Please! Do you really want us to remain here, guarding this abandoned building alone in this empty, lifeless shell of a body?"

"But...........but who says you have to keep doing that?!" Ed insisted, still holding 48's helmet.

"You think we can go outside? Do you actually believe that people would let us roam around freely?!"

"Wait a minute! My brother has the same kind of body you do. That's why I'm here searching for the philosopher's stone; so I can return him to normal. If I could just find it, I coul––" The blond broke off, frustrated.

"If we were returned to our normal bodies, we'd just be executed."

The body cackled. "Now do you understand? Even if we did become human, it would only be long enough to be killed. Or do you think they would let us, a couple of serial killers, go free?"

"No, there has t––"

"Listen to us. I'm sure it seems very noble, but you don't understand how cruel it really is teasing us, calling us human when we can only live in this twisted form, making us remember what we've lost. That is truly inhumane." The top half of 48's body positioned his right thumb over his blood seal, about to destroy it.

"No, stop you idiot! What are you trying to do?!" Ed dropped the helmet and sprinted over to 48's body, latching onto the body's right arm and trying to stop it from committing suicide.

The fallen helmet stated coolly, "Just shut up and watch."

"What are you talking about?! He's your little brother!" The state alchemist continued to pull at the body's arm.

"He was happy you called him human. Now he can no longer go back to being Number 48. This is the only thing he can do to keep his human dignity."

"No, that's not true! I can't let you do this!" Ed lost his grip on the arm and tumbled to the ground.

I ran over and held him tightly, my tears beginning to dampen the ground. "As much as I hate to say this Ed, it's his decision, and we should respect it." Said alchemist fought to get away from my grasp and towards the suicidal suit of armor, but the more he struggled, the tighter my embrace became. Unencumbered, 48's little brother broke his blood seal, and the right arm fell limp against the armor's side. As Ed stopped flailing around, my eyes closed and I buried my face into his back, tears flowing thick and fast.


	22. Can't Judge Nobody

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, 48 (helmet and body), Lust etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina, Araphon © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 22: Can't Judge Nobody**

"All right, I'll tell you guys everything as a parting gift. The one who created the philosopher's stone and told us to guard this place is––"

"Marina, watch your 10 o' clock!" Araphon tipped me off, interrupting the former death row inmate. True to my summons' word, two elongating nails shot towards the helmet from that area of my vision. I let go of Ed, transmuting and launching two shuriken at the nails, which retreated immediately.

A woman separated herself from the shadows, scowling. She wore a dark green dress, and an Ouroborous tattoo was in the middle of her chest. "Hey now, that wasn't nice." Apparently, the long nails belonged to her.

"Lust-san!" Ed exclaimed.

_Lust-san?! _I eyed the homunculus warily while taking a moment to catch my breath. _Ah crap, I'm running out of chakra; that last transmutation used up most of what I had left after the Rasenshuriken.............which, admittedly, wasn't much to begin with. I don't even have enough to heal my hand. No wonder Hokage-sama declared it a kinjutsu!_

"All right, let's get out of here before the building collapses." Lust's voice cut through my musings like a hot knife through butter.

"Hold up. Give me one good reason why I should trust you after you kidnapped me earlier."

"Oh, I won't give you one, but Fullmetal Boy here will."

"Hey, my name is Ed, not 'Fullmetal Boy'!"

Lust rolled her eyes. "Whatever, shrimp."

"DON'T CALL ME A SHRIMP!!!" Ed lunged at the homunculus, enraged.

"You dare assault your ally?" Lust queried, quickly stepping to the side in order to avoid the alchemist's attack.

"Ally? What the hell happened when I was with Envy?!" I looked from Ed to Lust, and back again, demanding a well-deserved explanation.

Ed stopped to answer me. "Well, she kinda defected to our side. It's a long story......." He trailed off, trying to find better wording. All of a sudden, there was a loud 'clang', signifying the sudden breakdown of Ed's auto-mail arm.

"Looks like it's broken," Lust stated calmly.

The short alchemist had a small melt down. "WHAT?!?!?!"

The fact that the homunculus could switch sides so easily didn't sit well with me. "Hey Lust, you're going to be joining our group, right? And you're not going to be handing us over to the homunculi any time soon?"

"Yes. That is correct on both accounts." Lust looked me straight in the eye to prove she wasn't lying.

".........All right then." I was still a bit skeptical, but my suspicions were put to rest for the time being.

Bits and pieces of the ceiling began to rain down on us as the lab started shaking once more. A particularly large chunk decided that it wanted to fall on me but was thwarted at the last second due to five extremely sharp nails. "Thank you."

"Again I suggest; let's get out of here."

Ed glanced at 48's helmet. "What are we going to do about him?"

"I dunno. He could come with us, I guess.........."

Lust crossed her arms and arched a finely drawn eyebrow. "............Why do you want to save a talking helmet?"

The alchemist picked up the helmet in question. "I don't want to murder anyone, and I'm sure we'll find something for him to do."

"M'kay then."

"Do I even get a say in this?!" 48 wanted to know.

"Nope. None whatsoever." Ed grinned evilly.

"Well, at least give me a body or something. What's the point of me being in the outside world if I can't move around on my own?"

"We have about a minute before this lab collapses, and I don't think Fullmetal Boy can transmute anything with his dysfunctional arm. Let's go." Lust exited the research center, snagging the helmet from Ed in the process.

"Hey!" Ed exclaimed indignantly, running after the homunculus. "Give that back!"

I sighed in exasperation. "Shall we go, Araphon?" My summon transformed into an anaconda and slithered up my right leg, draping himself across my shoulders..............and then some. "Gee, can you get any heavier?! I think you've put on some weight!" I said, pulling his non-existent leg.

In response, Araphon stuck out his tongue and morphed into a Barbados threadsnake. "There, better?" He sounded petulant.

"I can't see you! Where'd you go?"

"Hold out your hand, palm up."

I did what he asked, and a tiny snake about the size of a quarter wriggled onto my palm. "Oh, there you are! Awwww, you're so cute!"

My summon scowled.........if you can imagine a snake scowling. "We should really get going," he suggested as the lab continued to fall apart, dust clouding our view. I gave a non-committal grunt and Araphon dropped to the floor, landing on two scaly feet. He glanced back at me, stretching his elongated neck. "Get on."

"Well, this should be fun," I remarked; my summon had decided to transform himself into an ostrich. Araphon knelt down so that I could climb onto his back. Once on, I tried to situate myself comfortably, but Araphon shot out of the room like a feathery rocket before I was able to find a good position.

"Don't fall!" he squawked.

I desperately clung to the ostrich's wing feathers with my uninjured hand, holding on for dear life. "Yeah, easier said than done, Araphon!"

We exited the research center a millisecond before it collapsed completely, joining up with Lust, Ed, and 48's helmet––who were all waiting outside the front of Lab 5's remains. "What the hell?!" Ed's jaw dropped yet again, due to the sight of me riding an ostrich.

"Um...........it's a long story?"

"Oh snap," Araphon commented out of the blue, saving me from having to explain my situation. We turned around to discover a line of soldiers pointing guns at us––or more specifically, Lust.


	23. One Thing Leads to Another

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, 48 (helmet), Lust, Maria Ross, Denny Brosh, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina, Araphon © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 23: One Thing Leads to Another**

I immediately slid off of Araphon's back and jumped in front of the homunculus, bewildering her.

"Marina, what are you doing?! Get out of the way!" It appeared that our escorts had come after us, and met up with Al in the process.

"If you want to shoot her, you're gonna have to shoot me first!" I yelled towards the Lieutenant. "She saved my life back there. It's only fitting that I do the same for her!"

"Marina, as touched as I am, I'm immortal. Bullets won't hurt me."

Ross sighed, understanding that I wasn't going to budge unless metaphorical claws were retracted and guns put away. "Stand down! That's an order!" Muttering was heard among the rescue squad as the soldiers stowed their weapons. She approached me, hugged me. "I'm glad you're all right!" Lust cleared her throat, and Ross relinquished her hold on me.

"Er, right............more introductions. Ross, Brosh, Al, everyone else concerned; this is Lust, and the helmet she's holding is known as Slicer. Yes, she's a homunculus, but she is now working for us. Both Ed and I have confirmed this. The same goes for Slicer too." More muttering arose from the group at this announcement. Ignoring it, I continued, "Lust and Slicer, these are our escorts; Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh, as well as Ed's younger brother, Alphonse Elric." I motioned to each person, the military officers saluting when mentioned.

"I'd be lying if I said it was nice to meet you, Lust."

Said homunculus laughed. "It's nice to meet you too, Lieutenant!" She stuck out a hand for Ross to shake, who held out her hand cautiously. Seeing this, Lust commented, "Don't worry, I'm not going to bite........hard." Ross then shook hands with the homunculus without hesitation, an uncharacteristic grin on the Lieutenant's visage.

My left arm suddenly decided that it was bored and wanted to make life difficult for me. I winced from pain that shot up the injured appendage. "Marina, are you OK? What happened in there?" Ross questioned, concerned.

"Let me see your hand." I held out my left arm so Lust could examine the hand in question. "Hmmmm..........you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

"The bad news, I suppose."

The homunculus arched an eyebrow in surprise. "All right. Bad News: about 85 percent of the bones in your left hand are severely broken."

_..........__..OK, so that's more than I originally thought, but it'll heal eventually, right?_ I mused.

"WHAT?!?!" Ed blurted out. "Marina, was that from th––"

Lust held up the hand that wasn't being used as my hand-rest, interrupting the state alchemist and preventing him from getting another word in edgewise. "Good News: your hand seems to be healing itself at a remarkable rate, and will be completely healed in a week at most." Ed soundlessly opened and closed his mouth several times, not unlike a fish.

I shrugged. "One week is better than, say, one year."

"You're incredibly calm about all this, Marina."

"Define 'all this'." I looked at Brosh, the person who provided the comment.

"Well, um, let's see.......you got kidnapped, you can't do much with your left hand because of a bunch of broken bones, and one of your kidnappers is willingly working with us."

"Yeah, well, I guess my mind just kinda stuck everything in the It'll-Be-An-Interesting-Experience Folder, and left it at that."

"..........I see."

I grimaced as pain manifested itself in my arm once more. This, of course, did not go unnoticed by Ed. "OK, hospital time."

Shaking my head, I responded, "No, I'm fine. Really." Cue another ache, another grimace.

"No, you're not. Hospital, here we come!" The blond started tugging me away from the ruined research center, took several steps..............and subsequently came to a halt, realizing that the hospital was a good mile or so from our current location.

About ten minutes later, we arrived at Central Hospital via car. Ed marched me to the ER, demanding to see a doctor immediately––even though it was one or two in the morning. After having me jump through various hoops, the doctors came to the same conclusion Lust had, and my left hand was neatly bandaged up. Apparently, I was free to move around as long as I took care not to injure my arm any further. Ed however, was confined to a hospital bed, auto-mail arm in a makeshift sling.

"Edward sir, I apologize in advance for this!" Ross and Brosh stood at attention beside the blonds' bed.

"Huh?"

The lieutenant smacked Ed rather forcefully and Brosh looked at his partner, shocked. "Doing that stuff on your own, you could have lost your lives back there! First, recognize the fact that you're still children. Next, don't try to do everything by yourselves. Please trust the people around you..........Can't you put a little more faith in us adults?" Ross stood at attention again, startling Ed. "My conduct was improper for a lower officer, sir. Forgive me."

Brosh imitated his partner. "Forgive me too, sir!"

"No, you've got a point," the state alchemist sighed. "I'm sorry." Both military officers looked oddly thankful at this apology, exhaling held breaths. Ed sweat-dropped. "Why are you so relieved?"

"State Alchemists are equal to majors in rank, even though they aren't regular soldiers. We could be fired at a single word from you," Ross explained.

"I didn't get my license because I wanted status in the military, and you don't have to speak so formally to a kid."

The lieutenant was nonplussed. "Oh. Really?"

"Well, the thing is that it was really annoying to have to talk like that to someone younger than me, you know?" Brosh supplemented, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Well, if that's all.........." I yawned. _Sleep is starting to sound really good right about now..........._

"Oh yeah, you haven't gotten any sleep since we were in the library. Why don't you go take a nap?" Ed suggested. I shot a skeptical look in Lust's direction.

".........I'm not going to kidnap you; that was a one-time thing. If anything, I'm going to be doing the exact opposite."

"Riiiiight." I exited the room, curling up on a bench in the hallway and promptly falling asleep. Lust followed me out and leaned against the wall directly across from me, taking her new self-appointed job seriously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A day or so later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ed managed escape his confinement, insisting that he needed to see me. "Hey, Marin––"

"Shhh!" Lust put a finger to her lips, indicating that the blond should lower his voice. "She's sleeping."

Ed complied with her request and continued in a whisper, "Still?! Wow, she must've been really tired." He gently covered me with his red coat, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear and kissing me on the cheek.

"Nhhhh, Ed......." I stirred, but didn't wake. Said alchemist smiled and leaned on the wall next to Lust, watching me catch some 'Z's.


	24. A Question of Lust

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, 48 (helmet), Lust, Maria Ross, Denny Brosh, Maes Hughes, Dr. Marcoh, Envy, Gluttony, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 24: A Question of Lust**

"Hey Edward! I heard that you'd be over here."

Ed and Lust simultaneously shushed the Lieutenant Colonel. The blond nodded in my direction. "She's catching up on some much-needed rest. Is it all right to sneak away from work?"

Hughes lowered his voice accordingly. "Sorry about that. No need to worry, I left the work for Sheska to do."

Ed's mind supplied him with an image of a passed out bookworm amid stacks of books and papers, and he sweat-dropped. "You're a monster."

By now, the Lieutenant Colonel and Ed were in the state alchemist's hospital room. "Oh I forgot, I haven't had a chance to eat lunch today," the Lieutenant mentioned casually.

Putting his reading material next to Slicer, Brosh offered, "Oh. Well, I'll go get you some food sir."

"Yeah.......Lieutenant Ross, why don't you go with him?"

She read between the lines. "Understood, sir."

"Thanks. I'm real hungry! I've just been so busy." Hughes laughed awkwardly, trailing off as soon as the escorts were out of earshot. He sat down on a stool next to Ed's bed, now one hundred percent serious.

"Ed, what the hell happened at Lab 5?" When said alchemist didn't respond, Hughes pressed, "Ed?"

"...........Marina knows more about it than I do."

"Don't give me that! Just tell me what you saw, will ya?" After a few select moments of silence Ed uttered one word: homunculi. Hughes' eyes widened. "You're kidding me! Artificial people?! That's hard to believe."

"Even if the evidence is right in front of you?" Lust stepped into the room, nails lengthening to prove her point. Hughes' eyes widened even more, if that was possible.

"Wait a minute, if you're in here, who's watching Marina-chan?" Ed wanted to know.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist; your escorts swapped places with me. She's still sleeping, so I doubt a guard change will matter to her."

"Hughes, this is Lust." Slicer's helmet––who now resided on Ed's bedside table––cleared his invisible throat, not about to be ignored a second time. "Oh, and the helmet is Slicer. Lust and Slicer, this is Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes." Lust nodded her head and Slicer gave an obligatory hello.

Ed somehow got hold of a pencil as well as a few pieces of paper. Five-ish minutes later, Lust, Hughes, Slicer, and Ed were looking at various sketches of Envy, what Slicer looked like before I rasenshurikened him, and the transmutation circle Ed and I found on the floor of the Lab when we fought the aforementioned guard. "A psychopath named Envy, a guardian whose soul was attached to armor,"

"Hey, I'm right here. Don't talk about me as if I was dea––"

"And the arrays to make a philosopher's stone." Ed interrupted the talking helmet so that he could finish his train of thought. "Those are the things I saw in there, Hughes."

"This is turning into an awfully serious matter, and the whole thing is about a little red stone."

Looking directly at the Lieutenant Colonel, Ed remarked. "It's been serious for years now. Dr. Marcoh said that the stone was used as a weapon in the Eastern Rebellion."

"So you guys are connected to the philosopher's stone?" Hughes asked Lust.

"Indeed we are. Ideally, my former superior would have Ed––or any competent alchemist, really––make the stone, and she would use it to make us homunculi human. But, of course, that wasn't going to happen any time soon.............if at all."

"I see. So why are you on our side now?"

"I figure that if I join you guys, the probability of me becoming human is far greater than the slim-to-none odds I had before I defected." Lust shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant manner.

Hughes nodded his head, finding her answer to be satisfactory. "And how can one tell humans and homunculi apart?"

"The difference is that we homunculi have tattoos of Ouroborous on various parts of our bodies. You can see where mine is, and I know that Envy has one on his left forearm. There's also a short, fat homunculus named Gluttony, and his is in the middle of his tongue."

"Thanks for the information. Ed, I'll take it from here. Now why don't you, Al, and Marina just worry about yourselves for a while?"

Lust crossed her arms. "You're going to get killed if you sniff around places you shouldn't."

"What's with the notification?" Ed inquired, curious.

The homunculus in question sighed, walking towards the door. "I just don't want people to die unnecessary deaths."

"Lust, was it? I appreciate your concern, but I think I'll be OK."

"................Fine. Just don't expect me to come to your rescue when my prediction comes true. You can't say you haven't been warned, Lieutenant Colonel."

"Duly noted."

Lust was about to leave, but Ed called out, "Where are you going?"

The homunculus stopped and looked at the alchemist over her shoulder. "To get food." With that, she exited the room.

Brosh scooted to the side as soon as the door opened, trying to pretend that he totally wasn't eavesdropping in any way, shape, or form. The homunculus lengthened her nails, and the Sergeant found himself on the receiving end of an I-know-you-were-listening-so-don't-even-try-to-B-S-me look.

"Sounds like you guys were discussing something complicated."

"Eh, not really. We were just talking about the whole Lab 5 incident, and the difference between huma––"

Ross jammed her index fingers in her ears, closing her eyes. "I don't want to get involved in any more dangerous business, so I refuse to listen!"

Brosh continued with the questioning, despite his partner's declaration. "Are you guys done talking?"

"More or less." _I wish people would stop bombarding me with questions and leave me alone!_

"Where are you headed now?"

"...........I'm going to the cafeteria to get some food. I'll be back in a couple minutes. Thanks for watching Marina for me." Lust smiled and walked down the hallway.

"No problem!" Brosh called after the homunculus.

Two seconds after Lust departed, another person approached the two military officers. "Hey you two, is this the Fullmetal Alchemist's recovery room?"

The Lieutenant took her fingers out of her ears and slowly opened her eyes. "Yes, he's in he––" Ross freaked out as soon as she realized who had asked the question, while said person proceeded to enter Ed's room, giving my sleeping form a passing glance.


	25. Flight of the Passing Fancy

I've finally managed to post ch 25! :D

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, King Bradley, Maes Hughes, Lust, Maria Ross, Denny Brosh, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina, Araphon © author / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

_Italics - thoughts_

* * *

**Ch 25: Flight of the Passing Fancy**

"Excuse me."

Both state alchemist and Lieutenant Colonel looked from Ed's sketches to the opened door.............which revealed my uncle. "F-FUHRER–PRESIDENT KING BRADLEY!!!" Hughes had enough sense to immediately stand up, salute, and bow.

"Quiet down. You can be at ease."

Still bowing, the Lieutenant Colonel questioned, "Your Excellency, may I ask why you are here?"

"Why I am here? To drop off a get-well present, of course." He turned to the blond. "Are you fond of melon at all?" My uncle held out a melon contained within a gift-basket, pink ribbon and all.

Ed stared at it for a moment, not knowing how to react, then decided to receive his gift melon. "Oh..........thank you."

"Seems like you've been doing a lot of investigating of the military leadership, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes."

"Wha? Well, that––How did yo––?"

"Don't underestimate my intelligence network. And you, Edward Elric; your relationship with my niece............" Bradley loomed over the state alchemist, who looked more than a little apprehensive. "Just how sincere is it? Depending on your answer, I may have to........." Silence descended upon the room as Ed and the Fuhrer had a staring contest, which was broken a second later by; "WAHAHAHA! I'm joking! No need to be so tense." My uncle patted Ed on the shoulder in a reassuring manner.

Needless to say, the blond was dumbstruck and at a loss for words. All he could come up with was, "What?" He directed his wide-eyed stare towards the door, which opened again.

* * *

I yawned and cracked an eye open, somewhat awake but not really. It was absolutely silent until; "WAHAHAHA!" The sudden outburst of laughter jolted me from half-awake to totally-and-completely-awake. _Who in the world?_ Araphon nudged my hand, now a weasel. I moved around to accommodate my summon and in doing so, felt something slide off of me a bit. My eyes widened when I saw that the 'something' was, in reality, Ed's red coat. I smiled and snuggled into it. _Thank you Ed-kun! I love you!_

"Ah, you've finally come around! Welcome back to the world," Brosh joked.

I stuck my tongue out at the Sergeant and yawned again, stretching my arms as far as they would allow themselves to be stretched without hurting myself. "Mmmmm, that nap felt so good!"

"Nap?! You were asleep for two days straight!"

"I was? Wow, that's gotta be a record. Where's Lust-san?"

"I think she headed to the cafeteria," Ross answered.

I got up from the bench, folding the makeshift blanket over my right arm. "Ah. I'm going to see what Ed's been up to."

"B-but the F––"

Ignoring my spluttering escort, I opened the door..............to be met with a wide-eyed stare from Ed. ".............And hello to you too?"

"Marina-chan, you're awake!" His mood immediately brightened.

I returned the coat to its owner. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ed gave me a smooch. "How's your hand?"

After unwrapping the bandages, I slowly clenched and unclenched the hand in question, wincing only when opening it. "Hmmmm, it definitely feels better, but I'll have Lust take another look at it when she gets back."

"My own niece doesn't even say hello to me," the Fuhrer mock-sulked.

"Ah, sorry Uncle! It's just.......there were............other.............things........." My voice tapered off as my unruly brain threatened to go on strike. "What are you doing here? Don't you have papers to sign or something?"

_Wow, eloquence at its finest. _Shukaku decided to voice his opinion.

Araphon had transformed into a scorpion and was currently hiding in one of my pockets. _You dare insult Marina?! _My displeased summon whipped his barbed tail back and forth in agitation, taking care not to poison me while he was at it.

_Who the hell are you? _The tailed beast demanded.

_That's what I should be asking you! _Araphon retorted.

I sighed, already fed up with their squabbling. "Guys, cut it out!" Silence reigned once again while everyone in the room gave me a weird look. _Did I just say that out loud? Hahaha, oops._

Shukaku face-palmed. _Good job._

".........No one said anything, Marina."

"Sorry............"

"Your Excellency! Where are you, Sir?!"

Bradley quickly saluted. "Ah drats! My annoying subordinate has come after me." He calmly made his way over to the window and proceeded to climb out. About halfway through, he stopped and bid us adieu. "This is because I snuck out of my office. We shall meet again! Farewell." The leader of Amestris dropped to the ground, walking away as if he totally wasn't playing hooky from work.

Ed. Hughes, and I rushed over to the window, watching the Fuhrer further elude his assistant. Lust chose that exact moment to barge through the door, stopping when she saw where everyone was. "Um, what are you guys doing?"

I sweat-dropped. "Let's just say.........a storm went by."

"........Right then." Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a house sparrow on Ed's bed. "Hey, what are you doing in here little guy? Let's get you outside." She began to gently coax it towards the open window, but the sparrow flew to a spot further away from said opening.

"Not that way, you stupid bird!" Lust lunged at the sparrow, intent on forcibly correcting its path.

I cried out, "No, don't to––" As soon as the homunculus seized the bird, an overwhelming shock swept through my body––knocking the wind right out of me––and I had to steady myself against the nearest wall.

Ed rushed to my side. "Marina-chan! Are you OK? What happened?!"

Taken aback by my unexpected reaction, Lust loosened her grip and the sparrow wriggled out of her grasp, turning into a mouse and scurrying up to my shoulder in a flash. "S-she touched me!" Araphon crouched on my shoulder, indignant and trembling from the trauma he had just gone through.

"Shhhhhh, it's OK." I soothed my summon as soon as I consulted gravity and reached a consensus with it.

"No it's not! What she just did was the worst breach of etiquette imaginable! How the hell is that OK?!" the mouse demanded.


End file.
